The Rescue
by K.E.Alvarez
Summary: The Marines didn't really understand what they were getting into when they decided to take Makino and her son into custody. Rated T to be safe.
1. Chapter 1

_**So, I'm taking a bit of a risk and setting this after Luffy and co. defeat Kaido.**_

_**This whole fic is really based on the assumption that the baby Makino is holding in the illustrations of chapter 614 is Shanks'. Hopefully this story will be completed before this is confirmed or denied by canon; but I think I'd be happy for any further information on that front so I don't really mind either way. **_

_**I don't think any reviewer would actually accuse a fanfiction writer of owning One Piece or being Eiichiro Oda but I'll go ahead and reassure you all that I'm not, just in case. That would be something, though, wouldn't it? XD**_

* * *

It was a clear, sunny day in Windmill Village. Quiet, as always, but the inhabitants of the small harbor town always had something to do. Many said villagers were sluggishly going about their morning routine sporting hangovers from the previous night.

A village-wide celebration had commenced the previous afternoon upon the arrival of the News Coo, which brought word of their local celebrity pirate's latest accomplishments and subsequent raise in bounty.

Despite the discomfort they were still cheerful as they greeted each other. The only inconsolable one was their mayor, Woop Slap, who snapped at anyone who mentioned their local _delinquent's_ deeds with anything nearing an approving tone. Needless to say, he did a lot of scolding that morning while dealing with a heavy headache of his own. If it made him fiercer than usual, no one mentioned it.

It was in this foul mood that the mayor walked into the town's one and only tavern to find the owner cutting out the offending article to place in a thick scrapbook.

"Makino! What the hell do you think you're doing?!"

The woman looked up pleasantly at the outburst, "Oh, hello Mayor, would you like some breakfast?" She rose to walk behind the bar and prepare the food.

"Yes, but that's not the point! You need to quit encouraging such behavior!" He waved his cane at the wall near the back of the room where nine wanted posters hung in simple, but immaculate, frames. Makino took the opportunity to stare at the topmost one fondly.

"We're all relieved to hear Luffy's alive and well, whatever he's doing, I see no fault in that."

The mayor scoffed loudly, ignoring the all-encompassing word choice, and sat down at the table she had left, absently picking up the article Makino had been cutting out. His eyes lingered over the printed words, "What's that boy trying to do?" he muttered absently, but the worried undercurrent didn't escape the bartender. She didn't reply. He shook himself and turned in his seat, "How's your boy doing? He asleep?"

Makino relaxed at the change in topic and brought over his food and a cup of coffee, "Yes, he's upstairs. Maybe he caught on to all the excitement last night, I don't think he slept at all."

"Goodness, I hope we don't have another pirate on our hands here." Woop Slap took a tentative sip of the hot coffee, completely missing the wide grin spreading on Makino's face as she hummed noncommittally. She turned back to the bar before he could look up.

The front doors swung open, allowing in a group of seven rough-looking sailors that briefly paused to look over the other occupants of the common room. Woop Slap glared at them briefly before leafing through the rest of the incomplete newspaper and sipped at his coffee. The group made their way up to the bar at a leisurely pace where Makino was waiting patiently.

"How can I help you, gentlemen?"

A boy, seemingly the spokesperson of the small group, stepped forward with a pleasant smile. "Some food and drink, kind lady, if you please. And perhaps some pleasant company." He winked at the last request, eliciting eye rolls from some of his companions.

Makino kept her current smile, although it threatened to grow wider with mirth, and couldn't help but catch her mayor turn slowly in his seat to glare at the boy. He must have been ten years her junior, at least, after all. "Why don't you all take a seat and I'll see what I can pull together?"

Most of the group did just that but the stubborn youth took a seat at the bar, Makino tensed almost imperceptibly, _his_ seat. "So…" he drawled, "What was all the celebrating about last night? Everyone we talked to just laughed me off, can you let me in on the joke?"

Makino set his cup of coffee down in front of him and arranged a tray for the others, "You're all sailors passing through, then?" She stepped away to deliver the rest.

"Sometimes. Sometimes we're merchants, or mercenaries. Adventure is our only true calling so we stick to the sea, where it resides." He finished with a hand flourish, which Makino missed as she had her back to him. She did raise her eyebrows incredulously at his companions, though. A couple shrugged and gave her apologetic looks while some avoided eye contact altogether from embarrassment.

"My word, and what may I call such intrepid adventurers such as yourselves?" She humored as she returned to fixing their breakfast.

"Well, perhaps our reputation precedes us, we are the Great Adventurers of the East!" He proclaimed profoundly.

An uncomfortable silence followed the statement.

Before the mayor could voice a snide comment, as he seemed ready to do, Makino replied apologetically. "I'm afraid I haven't. But we're a small port town, it's not very surprising."

The boy seemed to deflate somewhat but accepted her reasoning readily, launching into a recount of some of their voyages while Makino fixed their food and set it out. She didn't know it at the time, but some of his tales could rival a certain long-nosed sharpshooter in unlikeliness. Unfortunately, the volume he exuded became a bit much at some point and-

A blast of unearthly wailing exploded from somewhere behind the bar making everyone in the room jump, and the storyteller bite his tongue. Makino was instantly in motion, neatly turning off all heating devices and the small den-den mushi that had been sitting undetected behind the counter that had suddenly come to life. Apologizing hurriedly to the room in general, she asked Woop Slap to watch the front, bustled out the back door and up the stairs they concealed.

In the short silence a faint wailing could be heard from the upper floor, but the table of sailors soon recommenced their conversations. The boy at the bar stared dejectedly at the door Makino had disappeared behind, but his attention was soon drawn to the nearby décor.

"Are those wanted posters framed?" Which effectively ended the current bout of conversation from his companions as they all craned their necks to get a look.

"What does it look like?! Of course they're framed, brat, don't point out the obvious!" The Mayor snapped, patience long-since worn out.

"But… why?" Now he was up and in front of them, examining them more closely and mouthing the printed titles as well as the substantial rewards. A spark of greed couldn't be kept at bay as he read the topmost one with wide eyes. A sudden thought seemed hit him. "Do you… _know_ these people?" By then most of the people had vacated their chairs to join the boy in looking at the posters.

The mayor gave pause, perhaps a little dramatically. "Just one."

"Which one?" The question was unusually eager, like a great secret was about to be revealed, so the mayor gave him a slightly annoyed look.

"The one you're drooling over, brat!"

The boy, unconcerned by the insult, turned satisfied eyes back to the poster. "I see."

He was almost knocked over by the door when Makino returned with her arms full, as it was he caught the door swing on his shin and hopped away in pain. The bar owner apologized profusely as she handed off her burden to the mayor, who had already outstretched his arms with a wide smile at the toddler. "Were you looking at the posters? Perhaps I need to find a more suitable place for them, or at least move them down a bit, out of reach of the door.

"They wouldn't attract so much attention if you didn't have them in those damn frames." Woop Slap commented in an unnaturally pleasant voice, obviously for the child's benefit.

"Language, Mayor." Its mother chided, keeping her eyes on the frames.

"So, you were saying you know this-" He reread the name. "Monkey D. Luffy?" He enunciated the strange name slowly.

Makino looked at Woop Slap in mild surprise, but since he was otherwise occupied she answered, "He grew up on this island. You saw the sign at the harbor labeling the town as protected by former vice-admiral, Monkey D. Garp?" He nodded affirmation and had already widened his eyes in recognition of the name when she continued. "He's our Luffy's grandfather."

"Ah…" He then seemed confused and rechecked the poster, as if to confirm it's continued existence. "But he's a pirate?"

"He wasn't a very present grandfather."

The youth wasn't sure how much of an explanation that was, but the tone seemed to imply that would be the end of it, so he changed tactics. "So you're married then?"

He meant the question to be flatteringly regretful but just as the words left his mouth his eyes darted involuntarily to her ring finger and noticed the absence of such a symbol. He then settled into an embarrassed silence, which many were thankful for, but quickly chanced a quick look at the barmaid's face. He expected embarrassment or a sad smile denoting a tragic tale, not the amused smile she had directed at him. Her smile turned into a full-blown laugh at the surprised look on his face.

"Oh, child, there are many situations on the seas that will distress you if something like this surprises you." She wiped away tears of mirth. "Don't worry, you haven't shamed me. The father of my child and I are not married, that is true, but I wanted it that way." She received a befuddled look and chuckled some more. "He is an honorable man, but I didn't want to shackle him further, no matter his assurances to the contrary." A melancholy air did seem to settle at that. But she soon shook it. "And besides, I like to think we're bonded by something much stronger than a couple pieces of jewelry and the approval of a religious representative. But I'm a romantic that way." She finished with good humor.

One of the men at the table raised his mug to that. "Here, here!"

The Mayor was quick to strike him down, however. "Don't you take that to heart, ruffians! That is to be solely the female's opinion, but you must abide by your responsibility and insist on taking it!" He then quickly changed demeanor to reassure the baby's fussing.

"That is true." Makino asserted. "I know for a fact that, despite my refusal, it pained him greatly to leave our boy behind. Who knows? Perhaps one day he will return for him and set out to show him the world." Makino then turned away before Woop Slap's glare could reach her. Said baby took that instance to giggle happily, which instantly lifted his handler's spirits.

The visiting sailors paid and left soon after as the tavern started to fill with new and regular customers and they didn't want to be in the way, all taking turns to wave or gently tweak the toddler's nose. The unnamed youth paused a few steps from the bar and turned to the barkeep again. "What's his name?" He asked curiously. She raised an eyebrow. He reiterated quickly. "Your son, I mean?"

The briefest of pauses, then she smiled.

"It's –"

* * *

A long-range den den mushi was activated and several tense seconds passed as the caller waited for the other line to be picked up. The _buruburuburuburu_ was maddening as it stretched on. Finally, the _kacha_ sounded.

"News?" Was the unceremonious answer from a deep, menacing voice. It seemed to imply the _or else_.

"I think we have a confirmed link, sir." Came the lightly wavering reply.

There was a pregnant pause, then- "Indeed. Keep an eye out until someone arrives." _Kacha_.

The snail returned to slumber.

* * *

_**Just to be clear, MakinoxShanks interactions will NOT be appearing as far as I've planned. I don't want to lead anyone on, so I'll say it here. There might be flashback material or dialogue-only, but it's a big 'maybe'. But, hey, leave me a suggestion in a review, maybe it'll spark something, right?**_

_**BUT! If you DO want to read MakinoxShanks you can check out the story yours truly was inspired by: Heed the Siren's Call by Miss Mungoe. It's super fantabulous! In fact, if you know the story and/or read it to the end you probably already know the baby's name. XP Let's not spoil it, though, all right?! Be mysterious when referring to it so other readers will be curious and go read the story! ;)**_

_**I have the second chapter written but I want to get a bit ahead before posting it, so it could be awhile. Also, school started up again and it's going to be really hectic. Ick.**_


	2. Chapter 2

_**Thanks to everyone who reviewed the first chapter but I wasn't able to contact directly! It means a lot!**_

* * *

The Strawhats were anchored at a nice, normal island somewhere in the New World. It was home to a small but lively town that served as a port for ships sailing further on, because of this it felt larger than it actually was. There was even a small marine base and even though the Strawhat crew was well known, especially after their latest feat, the soldiers mostly just kept an eye on them but left them to their business. That is, until the evening of the second day.

The first day they had arrived, Nami had immediately gone to inform herself on the duration until the log would set. She had returned whey-faced to tell them it would be over a month. Since then she had everyone searching the town for an eternal pose that could take them to the next island, but no luck so far. Luffy had thrown a fit when he heard her solution.

"We need to continue this route!"

"We can't stay here that long! The marines could be calling reinforcements for all we know!" she screeched back. "We used an eternal pose to get to Alabasta, didn't we?!" Tension ran high with her; she had only found one small clothing shop, barely occupying 20 minutes of her time. She was appalled.

"That's true, the marines are keeping a close eye on us. They don't seem hostile yet, but that could just be because they know they're no match for us." Zoro commented. He also believed they were unsure of the crew's actual threat level given that they had just put an Emperor out of commission. Word sure spread fast.

Nami glared at him briefly, uneasy that he was taking her side for once, and returned to the argument.

Overall, the day was spent trying to distract their captain or appease their navigator. Thus, the evening of the second day found them at an all-you-can-eat establishment, cheering up both individuals for completely different reasons. It would close down the next day from bankruptcy.

The staff were on their first re-supply run when the doors opened to a dozen or so marine soldiers, led by a captain.

None of the crew was surprised since Zoro and Sanji had already alerted everyone. Luffy just kept inhaling the food from their, and other's, table. In fact, when the soldiers walked up to their table, he was still stuffing his face, only allowing his eyes to follow them.

The men were clearly unnerved and the captain cleared his throat awkwardly, obviously uncomfortable with the whole situation.

"You might as well say what you're here to say, he's not going to stop until there's no more food." Usopp offered generously, he had been so nervous after Zoro and Sanji's warning that he stopped eating and now his plate was empty, compliments of his captain.

The marine glanced at him briefly, did a double take and stared in confusion, trying to figure out if he recognized him from wanted poster. He shook himself and returned to Luffy. "I am Captain Arrow, Monkey D. Luffy. As I'm sure you're aware, I've kept you and your crew under surveillance these last few days and as long as you remain a benign force I'll turn a blind eye and let you remain, if you choose to, for the remain of your stay. As I'm sure you're already discovered, it will take approximately one month for your log pose to reset-"

"So it's true!" Nami couldn't help but exclaim, then rounded angrily onto Luffy, temper renewed. "You see?!" She hissed. "We're out of here as soon as we get an eternal pose!"

Which made Luffy's eyes bulge and he started spraying food all over in an incomprehensible angry rant. Anyone without a few extra set of hands to shield themselves were quickly doused.

"You're looking for an eternal pose?" The captain asked in interest, but he only received a heated glare in response. "I see…" But that comment was lost in the chaos that ensued, as Sanji lectured Luffy, painfully, on table manners. The marine captain observed this display for a few seconds before pointedly clearing his throat. When no one (noticeably) reacted to it he took a few steps closer to the pirate captain. The accompanying marine soldiers, who had formed a loose circle around the table, now tightened ranks subtly. Zoro turned slightly in his seat by his captain's side and frowned at the man in warning. Captain Arrow lifted one hand upwards in a sign of peace, then used the other to extend towards Luffy. "Stay out of trouble, then." He stared down impassively at the youth, keeping his hand extended as Luffy observed the gesture.

Quickly swallowing his mouthful, Luffy grinned wide and roughly took the offered hand in a firm, friendly grip. The captain flinched on impact and his eyes widened in surprise. "Aha, you bet, Arrow-ossan! We'll do our best! Wanna join us, since you're here?" The offer was completely sincere, and it seriously confused the captain and soldiers. Clearly, Monkey D. Luffy was as insane as all the newspapers indicated.

"…No, thank you. I don't think that would be wise."

Luffy pouted at the refusal. "Why not? Aren't you hungry?"

Robin intervened in a low tone, over the rim of her cup. "It wouldn't do, for the Marine's reputation, to be seen pleasantly dining with pirates in such a public place."

Luffy still seemed somewhat confused. "Really? Grandpa does it."

Arrow twitched-

"Luffy, your grandfather is crazy." Nami pointed out, obviously recalling a certain single-handed bombardment and loose lip-ness.

"Oh, yeah." And their captain returned to his food.

"Well, that is all." And, with a cursory hat-tip to the ladies, he and his soldiers filed out of the establishment.

"My, my, how mysterious." Brook muttered loud enough for their table to hear, causing several members to look up at him curiously.

"Huh? What is?" Chopper got out over his excessive mouthful of pasta. He was also wrestling Luffy for the last of his meat.

"I believe he's referring to the note our guest just handed off." Robin smiled and took a bite from her kisch as Sanji used a fork to stab the rubbery hand that approached her plate.

"Really, he did?!" Usopp exclaimed in surprise.

Nami was nodding. "Quite masterfully, even I almost missed it."

"Nami-swan and Robin-chan are so observant!" Sanji gushed, received warning glances from several members, and turned to his captain. "So what does the shit-marine want?"

Luffy was still blowing on his slightly punctured hand and glaring at Sanji in annoyance, but he reached into his pocket to retrieve a small, folded piece of paper. He barely glanced at it before tossing it over to Nami.

She gave a startled squeak before lunging to grab the light paper, then she hit Luffy over the head and grumbled as she unfolded it. "We should probably be a little more discreet about this…" She blinked at the scrawled words.

"What is it?" Usopp leaned over to get a look with Chopper hanging over his neck for a glimpse, too. Everyone else was a little more dignified in their curiosity.

_**2300 your ship.**_

"'2,300'? What's that mean?" Chopper inquired as Nami put the note away in a pocket. She had a frown on her face.

"It's the time. Seems like he wants to talk some more." She glanced at her captain, but he seemed unconcerned as he continued his meal, and she sighed.

"What, on our sh-!" Franky started to exclaim.

"Not here. We'll discuss it when we're alone." Zoro cut him off and glared at a few nearby tables who had started to give them curious looks. They quickly ceased under his attention.

Franky acknowledged the sense in it, but continued to grumble. _Damn marines, making appointments on other people's ships like they own them._

* * *

_One hour later._

"Sanji, I'm hungry!"

Said cook didn't even deign to answer, just gritted his cigarette and continued the conversation. "We'll just keep on guard, I doubt they'll attack outright."

"He seems to want to talk about something in private. I wonder what it could be about?" Robin questioned, in this instance she completely drew a blank.

"It seemed like he specifically wanted to speak with Luffy." Zoro stated.

"Yes, but that also could have been a distraction in case someone was listening in." Brook put in.

"Hmm, I doubt it. It wouldn't have been such a stretch for him to talk to Luffy as captain." Nami replied. "Anyway, there's no use speculating now, we'll just have to wait and see." She glanced at the clock that read 10:49.

"It won't be long now." Chopper stated nervously.

"Don't worry, he's not looking for a fight." Luffy reassured their youngest member.

"Really?"

"Really."

"Well, then, what _is_ he here for?" Usopp asked eagerly, encouraged by his captain's confident tone.

He gave his sharpshooter a surprised look. "How am I supposed to know?"

The rest of the crew chuckled as Usopp scolded him for leading them on, even Zoro cracked a smile.

"Calm down, Usopp. Nami-swan's right, as usual, we just have to wait."

"Fine! But at least I'm going to prepare!" And with that, he bolted towards his workshop to gather ammunition, Chopper close on his heels with a '_wait for me!' _Sanji just rolled his eyes and asked Robin and Nami if they wanted tea or coffee, since it seemed like it would be a long night, they accepted and he got busy preparing the drinks and snacks, as he finally gave in to Luffy's obnoxious whining.

So it was that Usopp and Chopper were out on deck to witness a dark, cloaked, figure seem to rise directly out of the grass on deck. Needless to say, any semblance of calm they had acquired from their weapons was forgotten immediately and replaced with twin screams.

Several members in the galley jumped at the sound and spilled their drinks; the monster trio was out the door before most even really registered the sound. They didn't even bother with the stairs, merely jumping the railing to land right in front of the terrified pair.

"Well, you're punctual, at least." Zoro noted with an intimidating smirk.

"Do you have somewhere more private?" A familiar voice asked from the cloaked person.

Luffy seemed to relax when he confirmed Usopp and Chopper's safety, so he grinned and led the man up to the galley. The others had come out onto the landing but filed back in as he approached. Zoro, Sanji, Usopp, and Chopper followed soon after, the terrified doctor still clinging to Usopp with a death-grip. Everyone took seats and Sanji went to fill a new cup as they waited for their guest to explain themselves.

True to their expectations, the figure removed their hood to reveal the captain they had spoken with earlier.

"So, what did you want to talk about, Arrow-ossan?"

The captain grimaced at the familiarity (some on the crew thought he should be thankful Luffy actually remembered his name, but they didn't say anything) and carefully brought out a wooden box from under his cloak. "It wasn't me that wanted to talk to you. I'm just returning a favor." He unlatched the bolts and removed the cover to show them an unusual Den Den Mushi. Its shell was a bit larger, for one, but it also had two radio dishes hooked up to its apex. Currently the snail was asleep.

Robin leaned towards it in interest. "Oh, my. That is a long-distance Den Den Mushi."

Franky lifted his glasses to get a better look. "Yeah, Bakaburg used to have one in his office."

"Aren't they pretty rare, though?" Nami asked as she slapped Luffy's prodding hand away from the snail.

"Not exactly, it requires a snail with a higher frequency rate, but it will eventually have to be enhanced with dishes like these, so they're becoming more common as technology advances. Still, both ends of the transmission need to have the right snails in order for the connection to work."

"Oh…" Several crewmembers let out disappointed sighs as they realized they wouldn't be able to contact home, then.

"Long-range calls are easier to tap, though." Robin continued, raising an eyebrow at the Marine.

"The communication is coming from a Marine snail, to a Marine snail, so there is small chance of wire-tapping. My colleague will be discreet, nevertheless, so I suggest you do the same. But you're free to refuse the call, I've already done my part." He truly did not seem to care, one way or the other.

Suddenly, the snail snapped awake and intoned in monotone _'buruburuburuburu'_ making a few people jump.

The Marine got to his feet. "I'll leave this with you. Be warned, once you leave this island I will be reporting it's serial number as missing." He let the warning hang, his footsteps and exit drowned by the Den Den Mushi's chatter. Robin supervised him with her powers as he left their ship.

"Well, that didn't tell us much." Nami huffed in frustration. She turned to the snail with trepidation. "So what are we-"

Luffy picked up the receiver. "Hello?! This is Monkey D. Luffy. I'm gonna be Pirate King!" He stated.

No one even had time to react, they just sat there staring in shock.

Zoro, once the surprise wore off, threw back his head and let out a bark of laughter. A few others followed him.

However, nothing could match the thunderous laughter that came from the snail, whose face had contorted into tearful mirth, which drowned out all the noise in the room. It silenced them in renewed surprise and caution. Who _was_ this?

"GURAHAHAHAHA! Is that the way you answer calls, idiot grandson?!"

* * *

_**So, things are starting to pick up. **_

_**I should amend my previous statement and say that there **_**will**_** be **_**some**_** Shanks appearances, just not directly or prolonged. **_

_**I wrote a lot this weekend, so I should have the next chapter up sometime this next weekend.**_

_**By the way, did you all watch the 15**__**th**__** anniversary special this weekend? It was sooo cooool! Kyah! I love interactions between Luffy and Hancock, so I was super excited. I was surprised they subtitled it so quickly, not that I'm complaining! And I was anticipating some great reveal at the end of the credits by what I had read online but, if you're caught up with the manga, it's not really a spoiler. Still cool to see, though. **_


	3. Chapter 3

_**The roll call for this fic sure is rising quick. Too bad they only allow four character slots.**_

_**Thanks for reviewing!**_

* * *

Heavy pounding assaulted the cabin door, spurring a headache in its occupant. When the excessive knocking resumed after a short pause he used a tentril of smoke to fling a stool in the direction of the offending noise. The knocking stopped, but now they knew he was awake.

"Smoker-chan, there's a call for you from headquarters!" One of his soldiers informed him in a muffled voice.

The vice-admiral let out a sigh that was closer to a growl and rubbed his eyes in irritation. "Tell them we're in the middle of a battle. Or a storm. I don't care, tell them I died."

"It's Sakazuki."

"…well, shit."

Smoker wretched the door open with his devil fruit power and stormed out. He didn't even bother dressing, just left in his jeans and boots.

"Should I wake Tashigi?"

"No."

The soldier nodded and stopped following his superior; whatever the fleet admiral had to say that was so important he had to do it himself, well, he didn't want to be around when the vice-admiral heard it.

* * *

Makino walked the well-worn dirt trail steadily. She hadn't made the journey in so long, years really, that she was already out of breath. Truthfully, it made her feel a little guilty.

The trees around her would occasionally make rustling movements and she would glance at them out of reflex, but she knew the larger and more dangerous game never ventured out here. Maybe they preferred their established habitat of the larger-than-life jungle further in. Or maybe a certain trio of children had permanently run them off. Nevertheless, she picked up her pace to reach her destination quicker; she wasn't on her own anymore, after all.

Her son was currently in the sling across her back, staring wide-eyed at the trees on either side in silence. Whenever a bird flew by or a bush rustled, he would tug at his mother's hair and make garbled attempts at speech to draw her attention.

"Yes, I saw that, too." She always replied patiently, and he would subside to continue his vigil.

Every once in awhile she would reposition him, or the satchel she brought with her, into a more confortable position and continue on. _I never realized the path was so long_, she thought to herself, just as she crested a hill. From there, she could just make out the tiled roof of her destination. _Oh, good. They probably already heard of Luffy's exploits, but it's the perfect opportunity for a visit._

The rundown house that came into view brought a smile to her face, fond memories taking over. It seemed only yesterday she had come up here with a pile of secondhand clothes for Luffy, only to meet two other boys he claimed as his brothers. Yes, quite the pleasant surprise. She clung to those precious moments with a vengeance, refusing to let sorrow take over the moment.

The little shacks alongside the house still stood, although the writing of their respective builders had long since faded by the elements. If she tried, she was sure she could make out the boys' names.

"Oooi! Hello there, Makino-san!"

Makino turned back to the house, where Dogra and several other bandits were coming out of the house.

"Hello Dogra, Magra, everyone!" She called ahead; the other bandits nodded and gave their greetings. "Did you all get the news?" She pulled out a newspaper from her bag to hold up.

Large smiles broke out at the sight of it.

"We sure did!"

"We've been partying for the last two days!"

"Luffy sure is doing well for himself, we're so proud!"

Not for the first time, Makino was glad she left the mayor in town this time.

"Did you want to talk to the boss, Makino-chan?"

"Oh, yes actually. By the way, did Garp-san happen to call here?" At the mention of the old marine, several looked fear-stricken and Makino cringed at her tactlessness. "Never mind, I'll talk to Dadan about it."

Dogra spoke up, "He did call boss yesterday but we don't know what it was about. She's been in a foul mood since, though."

"Boss is always in a bad mood after talking to that crazy bastard." Someone pointed out to many nods of approval.

She had to chuckle at that, "Where is she?"

"She went to visit Ace."

Makino blinked in surprise, then smiled and nodded. "Well, it's been awhile, I'll go too."

She waved away offers of escorts and started up the next trail directly across from the house. The small trail that used to barely accommodate three children had since widened considerably from many recent visits. By the time she reached the clearing in front of the tree house, her child had fallen asleep. Makino walked up to the seated figure and carefully removed him from the sling before taking a seat herself. They didn't say anything and, at some point, Makino took out the simple bouquet from her satchel and placed it in front of her, beside the newspaper that was already there.

"You know, I climbed up there once."

The redhead shifted a bit to show she was paying attention.

"With permission, of course." Makino said with mock seriousness. "Luffy was angry at Ace and Sabo because they went into the city without him. He was injured, so I can't blame them. Anyway, he invited me up to play with him, probably out of spite to his brothers." She smiled at the memory and her companion snorted in amusement. "I think he realized the weight of his actions and was afraid the other two would be angry, because he got really nervous and decided we'd be better off on the ground. He did promise me a ride on his ship when he became a real pirate though."

"That brat had such a brother complex." Dadan muttered heavily.

"Luffy?"

"…All of them."

There was a renewed silence at that.

"Is that the brat?" Dadan nodded at the sleeping infant.

* * *

_BuruBuruBuruBuru_

* * *

Makino grinned down at him, "Yes."

Dadan heaved a heavy breath. "That old bastard is going to be the death of me, I swear."

"You could consider it a favor to me, this time around." Makino replied in amusement. She gazed back up at the tree house, "It seems you're running a foster home for 'devil children', after all."

"Not anymore, I'm not. You're going to be back for him soon."

She laughed. "Of course." She moved to get up but Dadan held her gently in place; she looked back curiously into serious and slightly concerned eyes.

"Makino, nothing is going to happen. Garp's always been a paranoid man." Even with her steady tone, she still sounded like she was trying to convince herself.

* * *

"_They're forming suspicions, Makino. With all this Emperor activity they're looking harder than ever for weakness. I'm sorry, but… I'm not sure what I'll be able to do this time; I'm not exactly in the loop anymore. You need to lay low."_

_She laughed at that. "Garp-san, we live in a tiny, practically unknown village in East Blue. How much more low can I get?"_

_He couldn't be dissuaded by her teasing. "It's not so unknown anymore, after all the commotion those boys-"_

"_Garp. Don't." The rare, unmistakable steel stopped him dead and he quickly changed the subject._

"_Anyway, I'll try calling in a few favors, but for now just try to stay out of sight."_

* * *

Makino smiled reassuringly at her friend and patted her hand. "I know."

They left soon after, walking in companiable silence until the house reappeared. Once there, Dadan gathered all the bandits and told them they would be looking after the infant for a while. No one argued, although a few of them gave her and Makino confused and concerned glances. Makino gave them a rundown of the child's usual routine and a few supplies for his upkeep.

Finally it was time to leave. Makino had already missed lunch and she didn't want to raise suspicions by being closed in the evening too. She reluctantly handed the baby over to Dadan with a last hug and kiss. He didn't cry or fuss at all, just accepted the parting affection with a cheerful giggle and continued to wave and babble as his mother returned to the trail that would take her back to town.

Dogra stared after her sadly. "I hope she'll be okay, this must be pretty stressful for her."

"She'll be fine, she's tough." Dadan replied as she removed the baby's thumb from his mouth and replaced it with a pacifier.

Mogra took the baby from Dadan and ruffled his hair. "She must be so depressed over the separation though, he's still so young."

Dadan turned away and headed into the house. "Oh, she's not sad."

The two hurried to follow her. "Huh?! What do you mean?"

* * *

Makino hurried down the trail. She had made worse time than she had thought and the sun was moving fast. She started mentally cataloging her supplies and needs once the trees gave way to cattle fields, but it wasn't enough to completely distract her. She had been in the business so long, and her shop was so small, she didn't even need a physical inventory anymore. She could automatically recall what she was low on, what needed to be replaced or repaired. So, when she crested the hill overlooking the town and harbor, she acknowledged its futility and allowed a scowl to crease her normally serene features. At the moment there were only the townsfolk's small fishing vessels and a couple merchant ships; there were no white sails on the horizon, either.

At that moment a strong gust of wind buffered her slightly and a sudden feeling hit her, sending a shiver down her spine.

_Garp is right._

If anyone had been near her at that moment, they would have scurried away from the darkness of her expression. A glare only a person with nothing to lose and their world to protect would express.

_I swear on my life, I will not let him go. I will protect him to my last, as you would._

Makino took a deep breath and released it, and the promise, on the wind then briskly returned to town.

* * *

Oceans away, a frantic father sneezed.

* * *

The sound of splintering wood echoed throughout the ship when Smoker slammed the door.

The soldiers, some of the most 'uncontrollable' men the marines had the dubious pleasure of recruiting, gave him a wide berth as he stormed to the navigation quarters.

Once there, and facing a cringing navigator, he ground out. "We're changing coarse." Then spun around without waiting for a reaction. Some of the more curious soldiers who had overheard followed him.

"Smoker-san?"

He turned to look down at his subordinate on the lower deck, she appeared concerned by his obvious rage but was the only one brave enough to keep eye contact. She didn't need to articulate her silent question.

_Damn girl must have a sixth sense on me._ He looked around at all his men who were giving him cautiously questioning looks. He sagged a little in acceptance.

"We're going to East Blue." He announced.

* * *

_**I love Smoker and Tashigi, although not necessarily in a SmokerxTashigi way (sorry!). I imagine that Smoker and Luffy's relationship is how Garp and Roger's was like, only Garp probably wasn't as angry all the time.**_

_**I feel like Makino can be really scary if she wanted to. Like that poem says, 'Demons run when a good man goes to war.'**_

_**I kind of go back and forth between using Japanese terminology like the Den Den Mushi or suffixes, and just terms like 'grandpa' (as opposed to jii-chan), but I guess I take it on a case-by-case basis. I like how the way their names are used can convey a certain level of intimacy or respect. I hope it doesn't annoy anyone too much :/**_


	4. Chapter 4

_**Yay, chapter 4, finally! We'll be adding another tick to the canon character tally.**_

_**Thanks to everyone who reviewed!**_

* * *

"Makino and Shanks had a baby?"

Even with the crew's limited knowledge of the involved people they could understand the urgency of the situation. So Luffy's innocent surprise in his question elicited several face-palms.

"Yes." Came the condescending reply from the Den Den Mushi. "Is that all you retained from what I said? Honestly, I don't know how your crew puts up with you."

There were a few begrudging agreements.

"But," Usopp interceded, "why are they going after this kid? He's just a-"

"Do you think the government _cares_ about his _age_?" Robin asked in a quiet, but vicious, voice. "It's his blood. That's all that matters to them. They'll hurt Red-Hair anyway they can." She stared worriedly at the back of Luffy's head, still bowed slightly over the Den Den Mushi.

They had all come to the same conclusion as they heard Garp explain the situation. They knew what he would do, and this time they would be there to support him.

"Right, Jii-chan, thanks. See ya-" Luffy began to hang up abruptly.

"Wait."

Everyone turned to stare at the swordsman, who had kept to himself during the whole exchange. While everyone had had various questions he had kept a stoic frown on his features.

He walked up to the snail and Luffy offered him the receiver with a curious look. He took it and stared down at the device. "I understand the people involved have great meaning to my captain, but why are you giving us all this information? There's a pretty good chance, with all the people you've contacted, that you'll be found out by the government. So why? Why _this_ time?" Zoro tried to keep his tone neutral throughout, but a little bitterness crept into the last question. He wasn't placing the blame on him. No, he knew it was a failure of his, too. They all did. But he couldn't help but think that if Garp had called them back _then_, when they were together, then they could have made some kind of difference.

There was a long pause. "Roronoa, right? The first mate?"

Zoro didn't reply.

There was a long sigh from the snail, making it somehow seem so much older. "I owe Makino a lot, for everything she's done for Ace and Luffy." _That_ surprised the crew, again. "She's not the only one, of course, but she needs it most now. And… as much as I hate to admit it, I owe that damn Red-Hair even more." He truly sounded very frustrated, but only a few of the crew noticed Luffy lower the brim of his hat a bit to shade half his face. "I guess… Well, consider it a request from a regretful old man. I don't know if you _can_ do anything about it, but I decided… this time, you deserved the chance."

No one really knew what to say to that, but they agreed. By the end they knew he was speaking only to Luffy and they felt a little intrusive just by their presence. Zoro lowered the mouthpiece to his captain, in case he had a reply. Luffy didn't take it, but still spoke.

"Jii-chan, I _did_ have my chance." His hand reached halfway up to the scar on his chest. "I did everything I could. I know that now." He broke into a wide smile. "But you are right, we owe this to them. Thanks for letting me know."

Garp, from what they could tell from the snail's expression, seemed to be digesting the information and finally nodded, switching to a scowl. "Rumor has it you already have quite a few connections throughout the seas. Think you'll come up with something?"

Luffy's grin widened almost predatorily. "Maybe."

"...well, alright then." And he hung up.

The crew shared a silence as Luffy fiddled with his hat.

"Jeez, I can see where Luffy gets his bluntness." Nami sighed to the other's agreement.

"Sorry to be Mr. Negative, but how are we supposed to get to East Blue? We're in the right part of the Grand Line, but we still have who knows how much ocean to cross not to mention a Calm Belt!" Usopp pointed out in concern.

Robin smiled. "Actually, we're very close to the Calm Belt." Everyone looked at her in surprise, even Nami. "Most of the islands around here are uninhabited, and traffic to this one is scarce, for that very reason. No one really wants the risk of setting up or sailing near a sea king nest."

"What does that say about us?" Chopper looked doubly nervous now, as if the ship would start rocking from a sudden sea monster attack.

"And still, we have the Calm Belt between us. Not like we can row or-" Nami's eyes suddenly widened and she whirled towards Franky.

He struck a pose. "OW! That's right! Did you forget what ship you're sailing on?! Sunny can Coup de Burst through the Calm Belt! It might take a couple, but no problem!" He gave them all the thumbs-up as Chopper, Usopp, and Brook cheered.

"I don't think that's a good idea."

Everyone turned to Sanji. "Why not?"

He gave Franky an exasperated stare. "They didn't have much cola in town, did they?"

Franky nodded, unconcerned. "Just a few crates, I was only able to fill my personal stock with it. But we still have a bunch of barrels below-"

"But those are our reserve stash. We'd be relying on emergency supplies and if something went wrong, we'd be in deep shit." Many looked downtrodden at the sense of his words. "Don't get me wrong, a lady is in need of help and I want to rush to her side as much as anyone here." He somehow managed to avoid turning into a dancing noodle and glanced at Luffy. "Well, almost anyone. But it'll be worse if we get there and can't escape quickly enough."

"We could use the barrels then stop somewhere to restock as soon as we can."

Sanji was already shaking his head. "That's never a good idea when there's no guarantee. I worked on a traveling restaurant for years in that sea and, let me tell you, cola is not as common as you seem to think it is."

There was a depressed silence, only Luffy's irritated mutterings could be heard. Finally he turned to his navigator. "Nami~! Can you cut this paper out of here?" He whined.

She hadn't been paying attention to him, but glanced at the scrap tied to the inside of his hat ribbon and nodded. "Yeah, let me get my sewing scissors." She walked out of the room.

The crew stared at him in surprise and confusion. He seemed very calm for having heard such news. They would have liked to think he had a plan, but his track record wasn't so great on that front.

"My, this is quite a pickle." Brook chuckled humorlessly.

Franky folded his arms. "Got that right."

Luffy seemed to become impatient for Nami's return and started to try and knaw the thread off so Usopp swatted him and told him to wait. Sure enough, she came in with a small sewing kit and took the straw hat when it was offered to her. She sat down and carefully began to snip the small stitches. "So, Luffy, who is this Makino?"

Everyone's attention was instantly on the two.

Luffy tilted his head to the side and grinned happily. "She owns the bar in Windmill Village." He stated simply.

Nami glanced up at him quickly, then back down at her work. "Well, that would explain how she met Shanks." She muttered, and Zoro nodded. Pirates never went without plenty of alcohol, after all.

"Yeah! Shanks and his crew would be in there all day, every day, whenever they weren't out at sea." He laughed at the memory. "So that's where I would be, too."

"Every day?" Usopp asked skeptically. "Didn't you go out to play with A- Ahh, I mean- Your friends?" He finished a bit shrilly and sent apologetic looks to his crewmates' glares.

Luffy seemed to catch the slip, though. "Oh, I didn't meet Ace until after Shanks sailed away for the last time. The only one who played with me was Shanks- And grandpa. But _that_ wasn't really play…" He said with a shudder. "Oh, but Makino would let me stay at the bar and color. Or, if it was closed, she'd play hide-and-seek with me." He smiled wide.

"It sounds like she took care of you a lot." Brook stated quietly. The room was dead quiet, Nami had stopped her work in favor of staring at her captain. This was the first time he had shared so much of his past. They would have felt sorry for him, most of them had lonely pasts, but he looked so _happy_.

"Yeah, I guess grandpa asked her and the mayor to look after me while he was away, so I stayed with her a lot. Except, after Shanks left, he decided that it wasn't enough anymore and sent me to live with Dadan and Ace."

They filed 'Dadan' away for later. "So." Nami began, going back to her work. "This Makino… she's kind of like your mother, huh?"

Luffy looked a little surprised, then thoughtful. "Mmm, I guess… Dadan said she was our mother too, though. So I guess I have two?" He seemed to think this was pretty funny, and laughed.

"Who's Dadan?" Chopper asked.

"She's the mountain bandit me and Ace lived with until we set sail."

"Your grandfather sent you to live with a mountain bandit and he still expected you to turn into a marine?" Zoro deadpanned.

Luffy laughed again.

"I guess simple-mindedness runs in the family too, then." Nami stated in exasperation, but she had new fire in her eyes as she cut off the last stitch and handed hat and paper to her captain. "I hope you actually _do_ have a plan, we're going to have to act quickly."

"Yup." He unfolded the scrap twice and turned to the Den Den Mushi. Everyone leaned in a bit to see a string of numbers written inside. To their surprise, the paper started nudging itself away as soon as Luffy set it down.

"Whose vivre card is that?" Usopp asked curiously.

Luffy didn't seem to hear him as he carefully punched in the numbers onto the keypad.

"I think we'll find out soon." Robin muttered calmly, although she was just as curious. The snail immediately woke up and started to mutter blandly, 'buruburuburuburu.' They waited in tense silence.

Much too quickly, it seemed, the line was picked up.

"How dare you filthy marines call our private line?!" A female voice shrieked from the snail, it's face contorted in rage. Nearly everyone in the room jumped back. "What the hell do you want?!"

Luffy seemed unperturbed, he just laughed loudly. "This is Monkey D. Luffy, the man who will be King of the Pirates!"

The snail's eyes bugged out and there was a distant crash on the other side. "L-L-Luffy-sama?! What are you- I mean, how- I-I'm so sorry! I thought this was a call from the government line! I didn't-"

Everyone was shocked by the speaker's franticness and polite tone. _Talk about a 180._

Luffy just interrupted her apologies, though. "It's fine, but I need to talk to-"

Suddenly there was a deafening crash and splintering wood from the snail and several cries of surprise.

"Hebi-hime-sama-!"

"GIVE ME THE SNAIL! GIVE IT TO ME!" A new woman yelled hysterically. As soon as the receiver was handed off the snail's expression changed instantly from desperate rage to a blushing smile, and the voice became sickeningly sweet and soft. "Luffy~? Is that you? How are you doing? You're not sick are you? Have you been dressing properly? The New World has treacherous conditions, you could easily-" There was a sudden pause as she seemed to notice where the call was coming from; the voice changed to worry. "Luffy, why is this call coming from a military line?" It rose exponentially in worry and rage. "Are you hurt? What-?!"

"Calm down! I got a Den Den Mushi from the marines."

Hancock seemed to easily accept the explanation, but before she could continue Nami leaned over to Luffy and whispered. "Who is this?"

He was about to answer when the voice went icy. "Who was that, Luffy?"

Nami recoiled at the venom in the tone but Luffy answered happily. "That's Nami, my navigator." He seemed to suddenly remember his manners and looked around at them all sheepishly. "My whole crew is here, I told you about them, remember? Everyone, this is Hancock, my friend, she helped me a lot while we were all separated."

There were startled shouts from most of the crew as they remembered exactly who Hancock was, especially from Sanji. It was so loud, in fact, that Robin was the only one who heard the snail exclaim happily, 'That was the 100th time you said my name! Does that mean we're engaged now?" Luffy just laughed at the commotion as Sanji shook him by his shirt.

Zoro suddenly yelled over them all. "ENOUGH!" It quieted down and he looked to Luffy. "Didn't you call her for a reason?" As surprised as he was, they still had business to attend to.

"Oh, yeah." He became serious as he took the receiver in hand again. "Hancock, I need your help."

"Anything, my darling! Just ask and I would give you the moon! I'd-"

"It's like a female Sanji." Chopper muttered in surprise as Luffy interrupted her. Said cook was crying.

"How long would it take you to meet us and get us across the Calm Belt, into the East Blue?"

Sanji gritted his cigarette over his captain's blunt request, but held his tongue.

Hancock muttered to someone on the other side, probably her navigator, and came back with an apologetic tone. "I can be there in about three days. I'm sorry it will take so long, but we have to let the Yuda rest if they're going to be crossing the Calm Belt and the currents will already be unfavorable-"

"That fast? Are you that close?" Nami exclaimed.

She seemed irritated by the interruption but answered out of courtesy to her crush. "Yes. If you _must_ know, I was sailing in the vicinity when I heard of Luffy's battle with the Emperor Kaido. I wanted to be close in case he needed my help." Her voice became light again, unconcerned with how stalkerish she sounded. "My crew is changing course, we'll follow the vivre card. I have to hang up now, but I'll see you soon, okay, Luffy? Get plenty of food and rest until then, my love." She seemed almost tearful.

"Yup, thanks Hancock." He hung up and looked at his crew, blinking at the looks they were giving him. "What?"

_Where to begin?_

"She has your vivre card?" Usopp squeaked, he wasn't sure whether he wanted to cheer his captain or throttle him. Just the memory of that one glimpse of the Warlord on Sabaody…

"Yeah." He held up the paper he had used earlier. "Grandma Nyon said it would be useful to always have the means to find each other, in case I needed help." He looked thoughtful. "She also said something about staving off a sickness for Hancock. I dunno."

Robin chuckled. "You don't seem very surprised by her affections."

Luffy made a face and shrugged. "Whatever, as long as she doesn't ask me to marry her again."

* * *

_**Ah, Luffy, I love how he can go from wise to innocent, oblivious to surprisingly insightful and aware.**_

_**Also, to clarify, I think Zoro and the crew still hold some guilt that they weren't with Luffy two years ago. Not that it's their fault of course, but it's interesting and angsty to write.**_

_**So, Hancock. I've heard a lot of people don't like her, but I think it's really cute how she dotes on Luffy. Especially since he's made it clear he doesn't feel the same way. I don't really want him to go the same way as Goku, but Oda can do no wrong! Anyway, that's pretty much the same relationship I'll be going for from here on out.**_

_**Oh, my gosh. Chapter 5 did not want to be written! And just when I thought, 'the Strawhat chapters are always longer than the Makino/Marines ones', it turns out to be nearly three times as long! So the next chapter will be split into two parts, chapters 5 and 6. Unless you all want a short (maybe) Strawhat chapter between them? Well, let me know, I still haven't started 6 yet so I can still work something out. I'm leaving on a trip next week and I'll probably be out of internet for a couple days, so it's prime writing time! Hopefully, anyway. But I also might not update for a couple weeks ':)**_


	5. Chapter 5

_**So… this happened. Much longer than expected, I decided to just write the whole thing in one chapter rather than splitting it like I was going to. Made more sense with how I wanted the future chapter narrations to go. So, over 7,000 words it is. You're welcome. Or I'm sorry, however you like it.**_

_**To everyone who followed, favorited, and/or reviewed: Thank you!**_

* * *

_The villagers of Windmill weren't stupid, by any means. Their easygoing nature was almost a trademark, but they had a widespread understanding that, being a port town, the less they knew the better. Still, when it came to happenings in the village, there were generally no secrets._

_After the Marineford war, when Garp visited and was beaten bloody by the boss mountain bandit, they pieced together that the Pirate King's son had had some connection with Luffy and the elderly marine. It had certainly explained the depressed and tearful aura that had surrounded Makino and the mayor when they heard the news._

_Then the Red-Hair pirates had shown up. The familiar flag had appeared at their docks with almost no warning, but the crew was remembered for saving their dear boy so no protests were made. They did warn them that Garp had officially put the island under his protection, though. Red-Hair had just laughed, however, and muttered something about Garp's long absences. He then strode towards the Party Bar, oddly alone, as his crew unloaded their tradable cargo. No one had thought much of it, at the time. They were just glad that, at the renewed business, Makino's spirits seemed to lift somewhat. Sometimes a villager would pass by the tavern when it was oddly quiet, but still lit, and see the bartender and captain talking quietly, comfortably. Still, that wasn't so strange, was it? Even the walks they would sometimes take through town or the surrounding fields; they always seemed to be in each other's company. _

…_Okay, maybe they shouldn't have been so surprised by the news._

_But there was trouble brewing on the Grand Line and Red-Hair had responsibilities out there too. News like a new, tyrannical, Emperor and a renewed crowd of bloodthirsty pirates in circulation._

_After that they would often catch him and Makino arguing in hushed voices, the more her stomach grew. To their knowledge, he never won once. From the little they heard, it seemed like he wanted her to leave with him but she was consistently adamant about staying for some reason._

_He stayed for the birth but came up with increasingly feeble excuses to prolong their stay. His crew never objected though, ever since Makino gave the news they probably half expected him to announce his retirement. So it was Makino herself that dragged him by the ear to their ship one day and practically threw him at Beckman, infant still firmly cradled in her other arm._

_The dock workers couldn't hear exactly what was said, but it seemed to be amusing at first (at one point Makino burst into laughter so loud that it drew everyone's attention), then serious, and lastly romantic as the captain kissed Makino's hand before surging to his feet and taking his son in arm one last time. His crew, which had been staring as if transfixed, scampered around at an order from Beckman and hurried to make preparations for departure while their captain said goodbye. _

_And, within the hour, they were a dot on the horizon._

* * *

Makino scrubbed the bar's countertop again, noting with annoyance that it was wearing down to splinters in some places. '_Well, If I'm going to re-varnish, now would be the time to do it.'_ She sighed and moved out into the room to put up the chairs and generally make preparations to close shop. Most of the guest ships had left days ago and the town had returned to its sleepy, quiet state.

She leaned on her mop and let her mind wander a bit, wondering how everyone was. Luffy was such a troublemaker, she worried about him the most and hoped he wasn't overtaxing himself. She glanced back over at the wanted posters and smiled. _Well, hopefully he's found friends to look after him. _She nodded to herself, convinced of this fact and returned to her chore with renewed energy.

* * *

It was a little after midnight when the marine ship docked just outside of town, blocked from view by a piece of land jutting out over the water and leading to the large forest that covered most of the island. Conveniently it provided the perfect height to comfortably disembark and the soldiers hastened to do just that.

They weren't to make their presence known, not for a few more hours, and they had a lot of ground to cover before daybreak. The soldiers hurried into the forest.

* * *

"Makino! Wake up, quick!"

Makino sprung out of bed, instantly alert, at the urgent knocking on her door downstairs. She quickly pulled on her dressing robe and hurried down the stairs to the back door. One of the fishermen was there, sweaty and with a very worried look on his face. Her heart clenched.

"What happened?"

"There are marine ships on the horizon, Makino! Two or three, by the look of it, so far. I- I don't think Garp's with them." She inhaled sharply. He looked to be on the verge of panic and she could tell where his line of thinking was going.

"…Ok, calm down." She paused to think; it was obvious what they were here for. Her blood ran cold and she struggled to keep her hands from shaking. _'No!'_ she scolded herself, _'You have to keep calm too! Think this through!'_ She took a long breath and returned her attention to the man. "Tell everyone to act normal. Nothing's wrong. They don't know anything. There is no child here." Just getting those words out was painful.

He looked concerned, but not surprised. "But if they search…"

"Oh, I'm sure they will. But they won't find anything." She had made sure of that.

He seemed convinced and turned after reassuring her that he'd let the others know.

She closed the door and leaned her forehead against it. She really was shaking now. _'It's fine, the only inhabitations on this island are Windmill and Goa. They won't have time to find Dadan's house, even if they think about scouring the forest. And if they do… well, I know the way, I could get there much sooner. It will be okay, they won't find him.'_ She pushed herself away from the door and went upstairs to change and open the bar. She had to keep up appearances but, even so, she couldn't help but feel frustrated and jittery over the task; she knew there was more she needed to be doing.

Woop Slap peeked in a couple times over the next hour and passed a look over the place before giving an approving nod. He didn't say anything, probably believed she had enough on her mind, but his signature grumpy banter would have been welcome.

* * *

"This is Dawn Island, Vice-Admiral?"

Smoker glanced over at Tashigi, and back at the land mass that was slowly growing closer. "Yeah, doesn't look like much from this side, does it? The Goa Kingdom lies on the other end, this is Windmill Village."

Shouts could be faintly heard from the other vessels flanking them; another vice-admiral and his officers that Smoker had been sent to 'aid' on the mission. _'As if. Those bastards at HQ just don't trust me.'_ He thought in irritation.

"…Smoker-san, is it true? Strawhat grew up on this island?"

"Seems that way. I confirmed with Garp, although he didn't seem too happy to hear why I wanted to know."

"You told him?" She sounded surprised.

He snorted. "Not like it's a big secret. Those bastards are making a show of it being one but they've been dropping hints around like a leaky old bucket. Probably trying to lure Red-Hair out." He turned and sat against the railing, fixing her with a steely gaze. "What do you think of all this?"

She stiffened. "Sir?"

"You're obviously uncomfortable with the notion of why we're here. Nothing slows a warrior like doubt, you know this. So speak up!"

She flinched minutely, but it was more out of habit than anything else. She was used to Smoker barking orders and scolding, especially her. "This child- if it even exists- it can't be much more than a year old, if the sightings and absences of Red-Hair are anything to go by." Her eyes narrowed. "I know the Emperors are a great threat and the Navy must do whatever they can to protect the people from them but- this- I understand! I do! But this child has no fault!" She seemed to catch herself raising her voice and subsided, taking a breath. "And, with everything that happened during the war, well-" She bit her lip. "I've heard stories… of after Gold Roger's execution… when they suspected he had a child. What the government did then- I'm not saying it will be repeated! But…" Her hands were clenched painfully.

"It's the precedent." He finished.

She remained silent.

He released a stream of smoke, keeping it away from his subordinate, and glanced back at the island. "Our orders are to investigate and, if any incriminating evidence is found, to bring it in for further scrutiny. Even if we find the kid, and his mother, there is nothing that says we're to harm them while bringing them in." _Nothing that says we can't either._ A sudden wolfish grin came on his face, as he noted the accompanying vessel approaching the island with them. "It would be quite a nuisance for those old geezers at HQ if something were to happen to them before they got there. Better make sure some idiots don't get any funny ideas, wouldn't you say?"

She seemed a little confused, but understood and trusted Smoker to avoid civilian bloodshed. "Yes, sir."

He got up and walked away. "Don't worry, just trust your sense of justice."

She stood there for the rest of the voyage, alternating concerned looks from the island to the ships accompanying them.

* * *

Woop Slap, the town's mayor, was the one to greet the vice-admirals at the docks.

"Eh, Garp's not with you all? That's unusual." He rubbed his chin thoughtfully. "You're all still working him to death, huh? I thought he retired, he should just come back to relax."

Smoker saw his peer was about to reply, a tall, slim, man with unnaturally linear features, and swiftly interrupted him. "That old man? Never; he'll be hunting pirates and beating up new recruits until the day he dies." The vice-admiral (_Clark?_) gave him an annoyed look.

The mayor snorted. "I shouldn't be surprised, he's done too good of a job to stop now." He gave them a curious look. "So what can we do for you gentlemen?" The slim man stepped forward.

"I am vice-admiral Clarkson, this is vice-admiral Smoker, we're here on official business to conduct an investigation for allies to one of the four Emperors." He stated imperiously.

Woop Slap looked genuinely surprised to hear this. "Emperors? You mean the pirate Emperors? Why would someone like that be here?"

Clarkson was a little taken aback at the surprise, but quickly rallied. "That doesn't need to concern you. We just need to take a look around town, perhaps in some houses. It's all for the public's safety, you understand."

"Of course." He turned to one of the townspeople nearby and gestured with his cane to the ships docked. "Let everyone know the Navy's going to be looking around some of the houses. Don't want to startle anyone." He added with a chuckle to the vice-admiral.

He nodded, "Of course. Men! Let's move out!", and started directing his soldiers.

Smoker stepped up to the mayor. "We're gonna need to resupply too, who do I talk to for that?"

The mayor turned and pointed out a warehouse slightly down the gangplank, a couple employees standing outside and staring curiously. "They'll sort it out."

Smoker barked some orders himself and a couple of his subordinates went rushing away. "So, where can I get a drink around here?"

Woop Slap looked startled and Clarkson whipped around at the question in irritation. "Smoker-"

"Don't get your panties in a wad, Clark. You've got this thing under control. Me and my men are just backup." He looked around at the town and people and grinned. "But I don't think you'll need it."

"Still, this is highly-"

"Vice-admiral Smoker! We're still on duty!" Came Tashigi's scandalized exclamation.

"And a tavern is the best place to gather information. Lead on mayor." He turned to the man with an expectant stare.

Woop just huffed and started down the street briskly. Smoker followed with an annoyed Tashigi on his heels.

"I don't know if it will be open. We don't have any outside ships visiting, beside yours, so she's been cutting her hours."

"'She'?" Tashigi asked in surprise.

"Yeah, Makino, she's the owner of the only tavern in town." He led them to a small building with green paint and swinging doors, there was a large sign outside labeled 'Party's Bar' in big, cartoonish, writing.

"'Party'? Someone had high hopes for this place?" Smoker deadpanned, the street was practically empty. But, maybe he was imagining it, he felt tense stares on their small group as they approached the establishment.

The mayor grunted, unamused. "A former owner, the bar's been passed down from apprentice to apprentice."

Just then a young woman bustled out and abruptly stopped in surprise when she saw them on her doorstep. She had a basket on her arm. "Oh! Um, hello mayor, what can I do for you?" She nodded to the other two with a smile.

"This is vice-admiral Smoker and-" He turned to Tashigi.

"Captain Tashigi, sir and ma'am." She bowed.

"They're here on an investigation of one of the pirate Emperors and they want to ask some questions."

"I want a drink." Tashigi gave the speaker an annoyed glare.

Makino just chuckled, though, and stepped back into the bar. "I see. Well, I was on my way out to buy a few things so the place isn't exactly ready for guests." She smiled apologetically.

"S'fine, we can wait."

She nodded and hurried behind the bar. "What would you like?"

"Whatever you suggest."

She nods and looks at Tashigi. "And you, miss?"

"Uh, water is fine, thank you." She continues frowning at Smoker's back, who is now sitting at the bar. Something on the right hand wall seemed to have caught his attention because he continues to stare at it, even as Makino puts the glasses down. "Vice-admiral?"

"Take a look, Tashigi."

She twitches at the informality, especially on official business (But then, he's _drinking_ during official business, so what would _he_ care?) and steps closer to look. She almost trips back in surprise. "The Strawhats!"

Makino looks up sharply, but smiles. "Oh, you've heard of them? How nice."

Smoker snorts loudly, but Tashigi answers her. "Nice?! We've been trying to track them down since they left Logue Town over two years ago!" Impossibly, she gets even more flustered. "So it's true then; Strawhat Luffy came from this island?"

Makino starts drying a glass. "Oh, yes, not that it's a secret. It's a well known fact that he's vice-admiral Garp's grandson, and this island is under _his_ protection as his hometown, after all." She chuckles fondly. "Not that we'd hide it anyway, we're all very proud of our little Pirate King."

Tashigi can't seem to come up with a reply to that. She wants to deny it, _pirates are cruel scum, after all._ But she can't get the events of Alabasta and Punk Hazard out of her mind. Never mind the whole Dressrosa incident. She ends up muttering lamely, "You should be careful who hears that, they might take you as pirate allies or spies."

Woop Slap takes this chance to enter the conversation. "That wouldn't be what you're here about, would it?! Sure, Luffy might have gone and started picking fights with the Emperors, but he's not _one of them_!"

"Oh, yeah, old man? How do you know that?" Smoker fixes him with a piercing stare, but the mayor is unfazed. He lifts his cane and jabs it at the posters.

"Do those hooligans look like they're capable of ruling the New World?! There are nine of them! Nine! I don't know how they even got that far with so few, that boy is going to get himself killed! And now this! Unseating pirate emperors and I bet he thinks this is all a game! The next time I see that boy, I'm gonna-" He continues ranting, waving his cane around, and Makino asks them if they'd like something to eat, apparently used to this sight. Tashigi is actually relieved _someone_ here disapproves of piracy, if only out of concern for the pirate.

Smoker accepts and the barmaid starts pulling out ingredients for a light snack. "What the mayor means is, Luffy has much higher ambitions than becoming an Emperor. He won't stop for anything else."

"Especially since Red-Hair is one of the remaining Emperors." Smoker stated matter-of-factly, looking up at the woman.

Makino froze for a second but, again, the mayor stepped in. "Red-Hair Shanks? Why would that matter?"

He turned to Woop Slap. "Well, just rumors, mostly. But he did step in at Marineford and basically stopped the war. Probably saved Strawhat's life."

"You were there?" Makino whispered in a strange tone. Her smile was gone and she was staring at Smoker with frightened interest.

"Of course, I even clashed with Strawhat on the battlefield." Makino opened her mouth to say something, expression dangerous, but he held up a hand. "It was only for a moment, I was soon… distracted." He frowned. "Do you want to know?"

She seemed torn, wanting both to yell at him for treating it like a good story and feeling like she should share Luffy's pain. But what more did she need to know? The only thing that mattered was…

"No. …Not from you, anyway." It was completely without malice, he knew, but she seemed too lost in thought to clarify that. She sighed and placed the food on plates. "I apologize for lowering the mood, did you need anything else?"

"No."

"Yes."

Tashigi looked at Smoker in surprise, but his attention shifted slightly to the entrance. Marching could be heard, getting louder.

"Do you have any children, Makino?"

There was a tense pause, but when Tashigi looked at her she only saw confusion and surprise. "Um, no. Why do you ask?"

He let out a breath of smoke. "You'll see."

Just then, a group of soldiers walked into the bar. The senior officers, a couple of commanders under Clarkson, were twins with matching blue dress shirts under their Navy jacket. The only thing distinguishing them was that the elder, Karter, did not wear a tie, while the younger, Walter, did. They seemed to be capable swordsmen, Tashigi had noticed, but never seemed interested in practicing with anyone but each other. She was not bitter at all.

The commanders paused a bit at seeing Smoker and Tashigi and quickly explained that they were to search the building. Makino consented, but Woop Slap made loud protestations and insisted on going with them to 'supervise.' Tashigi attempted to make small talk with Makino, awkward as it was, until they heard furniture being moved around upstairs and Woop's subsequent ranting.

"I apologize for the inconvenience." Tashigi offered.

"Oh, no, I understand-"

"If anyone should be apologizing, it's these two." Smoker stuck a thumb at the twins, who straightened in indignation. "They're supposed to be supervising." He turned to them fully, but they kept quiet so he continued. "Though they are doing a remarkably thorough job. I'm impressed you got all the way in here so quickly if you're combing each house like this." He stated.

Now Tashigi and Makino were looking at them in interest too.

"Just doing our job, Vice-admiral." Karter stated coldly, he gave a pointed look to Smoker's glass. "Perhaps you should do the same."

Smoker stepped off his stool, making the twins flinch visibly, but just turned and dropped a couple notes on the counter. Makino started to protest but he overrode her with a _'for the trouble.'_

By coincidence or not, a soldier came down then to report findings. He saluted and proceeded to tell the commanders that they found nothing out of the ordinary.

"Are you sure?" Walter asked scathingly, as if questioning the man's intelligence.

"Yes sir, there isn't much, the lady seems to live alone." He nodded politely at Makino, who smiled back.

Both twins seemed to become speechless but quickly regained themselves and ordered the soldiers to continue to the next house. They complied but the two men held back a bit, uncertain. It seemed they were about to say something when a soft '_buruburuburuburu_' was heard from Karter's inner coat pocket. Smoker's baby Den Den Mushi started ringing at the same time. They answered them to hear the exact same voice issuing from them.

"Rejoin us at the port, it seems we have a situation."

Smoker replied with a 'sure thing' and switched his off, but Commander Karter asked: "Is something wrong?"

Tashigi frowned at him in disapproval, '_they were still in civilian presence, after all, and he was asking for details to a potentially sensitive subject?!'_ She glanced at Makino and Woop Slap, who had come down with the soldiers, but they were looking at the commander curiously. Before she could say anything, the other line replied.

"Seems we've uncovered a disturbance in the forest of Mr. Corvo, this mission has been put on hold until it's sorted out."

"Oh? Anything dangerous?"

Tashigi gritted her teeth, the mayor tensed, and Makino went completely still.

"Unconfirmed, but the Vice-admiral is requesting backup just in case."

"I see, we'll be there soon." He switched off his snail and turned to flinch at Tashigi's scathing glare.

"You do not discuss sensitive information in front of civilians, Commander." She stated coldly; her gloved hand was gripping Shigure threateningly. Even Smoker inched back a bit.

He glanced at Makino and Woop Slap. "Don't worry, ma'am, it wasn't anything revealing. Just-"

"_That doesn't matter_." She hissed, silencing him. She would have gone on but Smoker cut her off.

"That's enough. Commanders, go catch up with Clarkson. And, by the way." He added, stopping them as they turned to the door. "You'll address the Captain by her title, understood?"

He didn't say it in any different way than he usually spoke, but both men shivered and quickly made a retreat with firm assents.

Smoker sighed and muttered something that sounded remarkably like 'cowards,' then walked out of the bar. Tashigi fumbled to keep up with his abrupt departure, calling a goodbye over her shoulder. The mayor did not follow them out, though. Once in the street, Smoker stopped and patted his jacket pockets absently.

"Hmm, that's strange. Can't find my lighter. Don't think I set it down in there, do you?" He looked at her.

She sighed and muttered, "Smoker-san, you're a terrible actor." But she spun around to reenter the bar.

It was empty of course, the back door ajar. She was just surprised that Smoker really _had_ left a lighter on the counter.

* * *

Woop Slap scurried down the back street as quickly as he could. He was almost to the edge of town, just five minutes from the bar, but he was already fighting for breath. A sharp pain was developing just beneath his ribs and he pounded his cane into the ground with every stride. _'Dammit, I'm too old for this!_' He finally reached the last house, overlooking the fields between town and forest, but, even with the gentle hills between them, he couldn't see anyone on the road. He cast a worried gaze to the section of forest closest to his location, which was much farther from the clear path they usually took to Mt. Corvo. It was not an easy trek.

"That foolish girl…! Don't do anything stupid!" He gritted out, before heading back to stall the marines.

* * *

The vice-admiral grinned to himself, walking up the crude path. He was so much closer to his goal now, if all his information was correct. And it would be. His men had already confirmed the shack's location early that morning and informed him over the Den Den Mushi, all that was left to do was apprehend those bandits and take the Red-Hair's son into custody. Fleet Admiral Sakazuki would be pleased, not that he had any reason to worry over failure, of course. It had long since been confirmed that the bandits of Mt. Corvo raised the Pirate King's devil spawn, Fire-Fist, and Strawhat, who was just as bad.

He had to chuckle at the villager's attempts to confuse them, it had certainly sent him reeling for a bit and might have even worked if it hadn't already been known they were very pro-pirates. It hadn't been very difficult to link events together, especially after checking the birth records over the last couple years. He hadn't met the woman in question but he planned to change _that_, he wanted the complete set after all. His subordinates had informed him that she had suddenly vanished after hearing the report over the baby Den Den Mushis; well, no matter, he'd track her down from wherever she was hiding after getting the brat.

He was so caught up in his thoughts that he didn't notice the forest growing restless around him and, out of nowhere, a tiger the size of a horse jumped at them from the shade surrounding them. Some soldiers screamed, while others readied their weapons. They were caught unguarded, however, and the cat lunged for the first line of men.

"Out of the way!"

A wave of smoke burst through the ranks and enveloped the tiger, which gave out a startled and confused roar, and lifted it off the ground. The man behind the power materialized and swung the tiger around before chucking it over the trees, far away. He half turned then and beckoned them all to resume walking, which they did, shakily.

The vice-admiral finally found his voice and sped up to walk beside his peer. "What the hell was that?! And why didn't you kill it?! Now it could come back!" His soldiers were now giving the forest uneasy looks, but at least they had their weapons prepared now.

Smoker gave the man a disdainful look. "Obviously, it was a tiger. And I'm sure there will be more where that came from, no need to go on a killing spree, this forest is full of dangerous and over-sized animals, from what I hear."

Clarkson looked shocked. "Really?" But the man didn't deign to respond.

"You don't have to worry, Smoker-san and Tashigi-chan are more than capable of dealing with anything that gets in our way. Right, Captain?" The G-5 soldier cackled confidently, turning to his superior.

Tashigi frowned at the man, but it was more out of annoyance for the under-formal titles. "Do not slack off just because the _vice-admirals_ are with us, we're all responsible for the group's safety!" She rebuked sternly, giving a once-over to all the G-5 soldiers in their midst. "Everyone understand?"

There were many cheerful, and eager, assents to that.

Smoker, unbeknownst to them all, smiled. "Well, don't you all get too eager for a fight, now. We don't want to jeopardize any civilians."

There were some surprised mutterings. "There will be civilians? I thought we were going to raid a bandit den!" They sounded extremely disappointed.

"We are." He shot a meaningful glance at Clarkson. "But we should still be careful. None of the villagers down there seemed to mind the bandit's presence, after all."

Clarkson gave a condescending laugh. "What, the White Chaser shying away from arresting criminals?! Is your reputation just for show? You had a nearly unbroken record of pirate captures back in Logue Town, I heard you were extremely thorough. Has the last two years softened you?" He sneered, completely missing the murderous looks being shot at him from half the crowd.

Smoker just shrugged, like he'd let something so petty get to him. "Even in Logue Town, I made sure to distinguish between mere reputation and actual deeds. There's a big difference."

"Is there?"

"There is." And they crested the hill into a clearing.

True to descriptions, there was a large, run-down, house off to the side in the clearing. Clarkson and his men stroke up to it while Smoker and Tashigi took in their surroundings. Tashigi's curiosity was peaked by two small shacks adjacent to the house, which looked like they used to have engraved signs on them but it had worn away. Smoker frowned at a few colorful baby toys on the ground.

"Bandits! This is Vice-admiral Clarkson, of the Marines! Come out peacefully and none will be harmed! You are under arrest!" Clarkson raised his voice in an impressively authoritative manner that carried through the clearing and into the woods. There was silence for a moment and then several shuffling sounds were heard inside before the door was slowly opened and people started to walk out. The soldiers gave several outraged gasps.

Well, there certainly was a group of bandits living here, if the people's appearances were anything to go by, and they all gave the soldiers mocking sneers and chuckled darkly as they stepped into the clearing. The soldiers wavered, rifles raised, and looked at their superior who was glaring hatefully at the large redhead that seemed to be the group's boss. It was what the woman(?) held in her arms that had enraged the marines, though.

In one hand she held a baby, firmly cradled at her side, in the other, a bound and gagged green-haired woman, who was glaring up at her captor with tears in her eyes.

"Makino-san!" Tashigi exclaimed, taking a step forward with her hand on Shigure.

The bandit snapped her attention to her instantly. "Not so fast, there!" And two other bandits were there, a sword to the woman's throat and a dagger hovering above the infant. Makino closed her eyes with a resigned whimper, but didn't move.

"What is the meaning of this, bandit?!" Clarkson roared.

The woman was undeterred, she barked out a laugh. "You think we're idiots? We knew you were coming so we got ourselves some shields!" The other bandits joined in and laughed.

A few soldiers swore. Clarkson was reeling. How would he get out of this now?! He wanted to bring the suspects in alive, but…? He was sure that Red-Hair's woman was allied to the bandits, at least enough to entrust the child to them, so why?! Dammit, did they betray her when they heard the marines were after them? Trying to use them as a bargaining chip? Well, that could be arranged…

He glared at the bandit. "I assume you want to trade the woman and child for your freedom? Well, as much as I hate-"

"Again, do you think we're idiots? The minute we let go of these two you'll be on us in a second. No, we're not going to let 'em go just yet."

"What do you want?" Smoker asked, a frown on his face like he was trying to work something out.

"Smoker! Do not negotiate with the criminal, this is my mission!" Perhaps sounding a bit shrill.

Smoker turned to him, annoyed. "It's my unit's job to maintain security. _This_ is my mission."

The bandit smirked. "We want a fully stocked ship. And no following! We'll drop these two off a few islands away, so we'll need a Den Den Mushi to let you all know where."

The bandits started chuckling. Their humor caught the attention of the baby who also started giggling loudly, startling the bandits who turned to him as one. It was the smallest drop of guard, but more than enough for a vice-admiral.

"Finger Pistol!"

The boss bandit screamed and fell to one knee, suddenly finding her hands empty and she pressed a hand to the hole in her shoulder. She glared up at Clarkson, now a few feet away, holding the baby precariously around the middle with one arm. The bartender had been snatched away by Tashigi at the same moment, they were now on the other side of the clearing as well. She bit down a curse as Clarkson started to laugh.

"Didn't expect to run into a former Cypher Pol agent here, did you? Serves you right, bandits, now you have nothing. And we did say you weren't to resist…" His soldiers raised their rifles at the group.

"NO!"

Everyone turned to the green-haired woman, Makino, with mixed expressions. Tashigi had cut her bonds and the woman was staring at the scene in horror. "Please, don't hurt them!"

Clarkson raised a brow, outwardly perplexed but inside he was howling in triumph. "Oh? Why not? They were about to hurt you and this poor child." He looked down at it in concern. "They probably kidnapped it from some poor mother for ransom; we'll have to look into this. Keep it with us until she's found."

The bandits were glaring murderously at the marine. Being extremely proficient in lying, they could discern a poor attempt when they heard one.

Makino flinched at the proposal, but quickly steeled herself and thought fast. "They were only protecting me!"

Now it was the bandits' turn to look horrified, several even gasped.

"What are you talking about, Makino-san?" Tashigi asked.

She never looked away from the vice-admiral as she continued her story. "You were right, Red-Hair did have a connection on this island. It's me. We were lovers while he was docked here." She said it all very calmly. Honestly. No one could doubt her words.

The man looked down at the child, a widening smile on his face. "So, then this child is-"

"No." She startled him out of his implied question. "He's an orphan Dadan found in the Grey Terminal. I've been bringing supplies up from town for the last few months to help her since the villagers don't take kindly to bandits. We've known each other for a long time, she was only trying to help me." She was almost pleading now. "You can arrest me if you want, but leave-"

"Are you trying to make a fool out of me?!" Clarkson suddenly exclaimed.

Makino's eyes widened at the ferocity of the demand. She shot a frightened glance at the infant in his arm. A few bandits stepped towards the man, only to retreat as weapons were again turned on them.

"I've had enough of this charade! I know you're that pirate's woman, I know these criminals are guilty of not only sheltering you and your son but also the sons of the Pirate King and the head of the Revolutionaries!" His temper was visibly rising and they all became frightened for the child's wellbeing. "And I also know that this br- child is Red-Hair Shanks' son! We have plenty of evidence, I just thought I'd give you lot the chance to confess and soften your sentence. What a shame." He sneered.

Dadan stepped forward, regardless of the guns turned on her. "And how can you be so sure he's the one you're looking for? How do you know, despite what's been said here and what _circumstance_ points towards?" She narrowed her eyes at him. "You've already ruined one life by pinning the father's 'sins' on his children. You marines make me sick. Pirates are saints by comparison!" She finished with a yell, making many flinch including the vice-admiral.

Just as he was about to retort, something lunged at him and tackled him to the ground, but not before winding protective arms around the infant. They rolled to the ground and Makino scrambled up and made a break for the trees.

"Goddamn bitch!" He made to run after her but his path was suddenly blocked by the large redhead, while her lackeys were engaging the marines. '_We should have brought more!' _He whirled at Smoker, annoyed. "Well?! I thought you were here as back up! Go after them, or take care of this woman!"

Smoker raised a brow and dissipated into smoke. Several bandits let out startled cries, but it was soon cut off as the air became thick and murky.

"What the hell-" But Dadan's curses were also cut off as the smoke condensed and lifted them all up and into the air, their weapons soon clattering to the ground.

"Satisfactory?" He asked sarcastically.

Clarkson just growled at him and started sprinting up the path after Makino, the bandits started yelling warnings to the woman even as they were swallowed by the smoke.

* * *

The trees seemed to blur past her as she ran. Her whole body seemed to be on fire, perhaps from the earlier sprint up the mountain not to mention the following commotion. She thought she might be crying but it could have been part of the heat and sweat pouring down her face. She couldn't think of anything else right now. _No! This was all to protect him-_ Squirming in her arms and making mildly distressed noises. She tried to shush him gently but it came out a bit more urgent and broken that she would have wanted. Tears filled his big, dark, eyes and he started to whimper.

"No… No… It's- It's going to be-" Her voice broke again. She chanced a glance back, but saw no one on the trail. How far would she be able to run? Any more past the tree-house and it would be dangerous animal territory… _This was all such a mess! If only- If only…_

_But what was the use of saying that now?_

She stumbled into the tree-house clearing, struggling with sharp shallow breaths and a piercing pain in her side. She just had to stay ahead of them. Hide for a bit. She was sure-

"TEMPEST KICK!"

Her only warning was the shout and a line of blue light, but the deadly power behind it was unmistakable so she dove. A strong gust raked by her, but she felt nothing else, and then the trees began to fall. The thundering crashes were deafening as they fell all around, thankfully not tall enough to reach the center of the clearing. When she looked up at the tree-house, concerned, it was still standing, but had a deep gash in it's trunk spanning almost halfway. She heard the scuffing of shoes before she felt the pain.

"Finger Pistol."

The vice-admiral stood over her with a hateful glare, which she returned in kind. She pressed one hand to the wound on her leg but barely made a sound as the blood started to seep through her fingers. Perhaps she should beg. For her son, never mind herself. But all she could feel was rage overtaking her panic because she knew, without a doubt, that this man would never spare either of them. He never intended to.

She knew it was people like this man that had killed Ace.

"Well, then. You've given me more trouble than I thought, miss." He sneered. "But this is it. You've all just about incriminated yourselves with your actions. Don't worry about your son, I don't know what they intend to do with him, but he'll at least be kept alive for a while. Can't draw out Red-Hair if he's dead, after all."

Makino believed ladies should conduct themselves in certain ways, discretion in dress and language being two examples. She and Dadan had had several… interesting conversations on the matter. However, being the owner of the only tavern in a regularly visited port she was bound to pick up a few salty phrases. Which she demonstrated now.

Clarkson's face twisted in rage and raised his arm sharply, the surface blackening abruptly, and Makino cringed away as much as she was able, abandoning her leg in order to fully cover her child. She closed her eyes tightly.

The ringing din of metal-on-metal filled the area.

Makino looked up to find Captain Tashigi wedged between her and the vice-admiral, having caught the man's arm with the blunt of her sword. They glared at each other.

"Vice-Admiral Clarkson, if you would be so kind, please retract your arm so I may remove my blade." She said coldly.

He didn't. "This is not your concern, Captain."

"I am assigned to the protection of civilians and any evidence acquired during this mission. It _is_ my concern."

He seemed to be having an inner battle over whether further violence was wise. Or concealable. _Probably not._ "Are you defying my order, Captain?"

Before she could answer, Smoker strode into the clearing with a bored expression. "Actually, she's following mine." As he met them his eyes lingered on Makino's bloody leg. "Wouldn't want the geezers losing any leverage they could hold over the Emperors, do we?"

Clarkson scowled at him but stepped away from Tashigi, rubbing his arm. His expression reverted to cool indifference. "No, I suppose not. Did you kill the bandits?"

Makino flinched.

Smoker jabbed his thumb back where he came. "Tied up in front of the house, no need to kill 'em once they're assured of _her_ safety." He nodded at Makino and looked thoughtful. "Though they might have taken it as a threat." He shrugged, unconcerned. Tashigi frowned.

"Fine, let's load them all up in the ship and get the hell off this island." He turned, wiping his hand on his handkerchief.

Makino opened her mouth to protest their imprisonment, but Smoker spoke again.

"Why? They don't have anything to do with Red-Hair."

"Excuse me? They were caring for his child!"

Smoker shrugged again. "So? Seems they took care of Fire Fist and Strawhat, too, but they weren't apprehended for that. I doubt they even ever met Red-Hair. But it you want to explain this all to The Fist, be my guest."

Clarkson paled a bit at that last statement, opened and closed his mouth a couple times, then stormed off with a huff. "Whatever! You're in charge of security, it's on you! But I'm including this all in my report!"

Smoker snorted and turned to the two women.

"Sorry, Sir, and thank you, I wasn't sure he was going to retreat." She was sweating quite a bit, and her hand shook as she re-sheathed Shigure.

"Yeah." He looked down at Makino. "Might want to wrap that." Tashigi spun around to her and started fussing over the injury.

"So you're going to arrest me and my son?" She scowled at Smoker. "You realize how ridiculous it sounds to arrest an infant?"

He squatted down by Makino. "Yeah, but there's not much I can do about that. I have my orders." He blew out a stream of smoke that avoided them unnaturally. "You know, I've met Strawhat Luffy a few times. Doesn't seem the type to sit by when he knows his friends are in danger. I guess Marineford is an example of that."

Contrary to what the two marines were expecting, Makino paled. "Hopefully that was a lesson that some things are beyond his control."

Smoker stared at her a moment, then looked away. "Maybe, or it hardened that resolve." He stood then. "We won't arrest the bandits as long as you don't make a fuss anymore. Done, Tashigi?"

The captain stepped back and Smoker lifted the woman up with his smoke, then they left the clearing. Makino turned to give the tree-house one, last, pained look before it disappeared from sight.

* * *

_**Jeez, that's a lot of back and forth, narration-wise. Sorry about that. Can't say it wasn't fun to write, though. **_

_**I do apologize for my OC, didn't want to sully an actual vice-admiral with the role, but I wanted to make him just slightly less hate-worthy than Akainu, who deserves personal destruction. I was glaring at my computer as I wrote his scenes. I am convinced this was harder to write because of him. **_

_**I'm still writing chapter 6, so it'll be awhile unless I suddenly get a flash of inspiration. So far it seems more of a filler, with various scenes of different crewmembers, not much plot going on. It's infuriating! **_


	6. Chapter 6

_**I'm so sorry for the wait! And I'm sorry about this, it's probably not worth the wait… More like filler material, but I'm really guilty of liking that sort of thing. **_

_**A lot of scene breaks and I wasn't even able to cover all the crew members. At least it's done, that's all I can say…**_

_**Thanks for all the reviews, favorites, and follows! I was secretly comparing this story's follows to **_**Haki**_**'s favorites, and it finally passed! Although **_**Haki**_** was a one-shot, this might be slightly less impressive...**_

* * *

The great, snake-pulled ship had barely come into the Thousand Sunny's range when the most beautiful woman in the world hurled herself across the distance to their ship and whirled around, ignoring the stunned crewmembers, looking for their captain.

"Hey, Hancock."

The crew stared with mixed feelings as her eyes lit on Luffy and widened. They half expected her to run at him, she certainly seemed to be considering it, but she surprised them again by turning away with a scarlet face and muttered a shy greeting. Luffy just laughed.

The Empress' ship finally reached their side and two unusually large women jumped over to the Sunny's deck, they both gave Hancock fondly exasperated looks before smiling warmly at Luffy.

"Hello, Luffy-san."

"It's good to see you again, Luffy-san."

"Yeah, nice to see you all too." He grinned.

Chopper was trying to get Sanji breathing again, after his first glimpse of Hancock.

Suddenly there was a whole chorus of greetings from the Kuja ship and everyone looked up to a crowd of women calling down equally cheery greetings to the Straw-hated captain, who waved energetically back.

The crew, for their part, felt this was all a little surreal, and took it in as calmly as possible.

"Damn, Luffy, so it was true. Lucky bastard." Usopp looked at his captain with new admiration.

Nami frowned and slapped him over the head. "Oh, don't be an idiot! Anyone else would be dead."

Robin hadn't stopped smirking at everyone's reactions since the ship was first sighted. "That's true, any man to set foot on Amazon Lily is said to be killed mercilessly. I would really like to know how he did it." In particular, she was trying to decipher the three women's reactions. Hancock was obviously in love, and she left that for later, but the other two were looking at Luffy in a familiarly warm way. Grateful? Like he had given them solace of some kind. _Well,_ she looked around at her companions, _that _was_ familiar. _"Luffy, could you introduce us?"

"Oh, yeah! Guys, this is Hancock and her sisters, Sonia, and Mari. And these are the Kuja pirates." He waved at the women looking down at them from the other ship. A few waved but most of them were staring open-mouthed at the male members of the crew and muttering to each other. Some seemed to be taking notes.

"It's good to finally meet you all." 'Mari' said with a smile.

"A pleasure." 'Sonia' confirmed.

Luffy indicated his crew, starting with Usopp. "This is Usopp, our sniper and liar."

"Hey!"

"Franky, our shipwright and ROBOT!"

"Cyborg, actually. It's SUPER to meet you ladies."

"Zoro's our swordsman."

A nod.

"Brook's our musician, he's a skeleton who poops."

"Indeed I do. If it's not too much to ask, may I-" _SLAP!_

"That's Nami, our navigator." _Twitch._ "Don't try to steal her tangerines." He whispered.

"Nice to meet you; and he's right."

"The one on the ground is Sanji, our cook. He makes the BEST food in the world!"

Sanji stirred slightly.

"Chopper, our doctor. He's a reindeer that only _looks_ like a raccoon dog."

"I am- _HEY!_"

"And Robin, our archeologist. She's really, really smart." _Twitch._

"Thank you, Luffy. It's nice to meet you all."

"Right, now that the pleasantries are done with, how are you going to help us across the Calm Belt?" Zoro asked bluntly. Which, apparently, were the magic words to waking their cook.

"Dammit, Marimo, watch how you talk to a lady! You're just as bad as Luffy!" He turned to the women gallantly. "I apologize for my crewmate, he's a barbaric idiot, may I get you ladies something to drink? It must have been a long voyage." It would have been a sweet and considerate offer if his nose hadn't started bleeding.

Sonia and Mari were just about to answer when Hancock brushed them all aside impatiently, seemingly over her shyness. "Let's not waste any time. We need to secure this vessel to the back of our ship! Yuda, move ahead! Ladies, quit gawking and prepare the cables, NOW!" There was much scrambling as the women hurried to obey their captain's order and Hancock turned her icy stare on her sisters. "Don't get distracted. We're here for Luffy."

They answered as one, petrified. "Yes, sister."

Hancock flicked her hair away and turned, lovingly, to said captain.

* * *

Nami had eventually decided that talking to Sandersonia or Marigold, as they learned their names later, would be safer than subjecting herself to Hancock's murderous gaze. She had already tried to kick Chopper out of her path, much to Robin's anger, and snapped at anyone who wasn't on her crew or Luffy. Actually, Luffy was the _only_ one guaranteed not to be yelled at. So Nami was able to meet the Kuja's navigator on their ship and work to find the most efficient path back to Luffy's island. Franky was added to the conversation, so they had to be moved back to the Sunny (since men that weren't Luffy were not allowed aboard), and continued to discuss while adding the ship's Coup de Burst to the equation. They tried to avoid it for as long as possible but, eventually, they had to pry Luffy away from Hancock so he could give them directions on the island's location. He had given them an alarmingly blank look.

Nami tried to stay calm. "Ok, Luffy, what's the name of the island?" She sounded like she was talking to a child.

"Dawn island." He said promptly.

The Kuja navigator looked a little surprised, Nami noted, but made a rough estimate of its location then released him to follow Hancock to the kitchen for a 'sustaining snack'.

After making a few calculations and notes, Nami finally turned to her fellow navigator. "Do you know the island?"

She freezes, just a bit, but shakes her head slowly. "No, I've only read about it, but I never would have thought Luffy-sama came from such a place."

Nami frowns. "Is it that bad?"

She looks up at Nami then, face carefully blank. "That would depend on your viewpoint. It houses the Goa Kingdom." She wouldn't say anymore on the subject.

Eventually, Nami would get around to asking Robin about it.

* * *

"Sanji, what's the point of making all this if they won't take it?! You're sulking! And being wasteful! What would Nami say?" Usopp tutted and stole an orange slice from the specimen bowl.

The cook seemed to be in physical pain over some inner conflict. "I know! But I only have access to three, maybe four, of those ladies! It wouldn't be right to bring them refreshments but not the rest! And they're _always_ watching!"

"Have you seen the way their captain treats them? I doubt they care. You're just serving their captain and co-captains, that's not so unusual."

"DON'T YOU TALK BAD ABOUT HANCOCK-CHAN!" He shrieked, swiping the bowl of oranges out of the sniper's reach.

"Oi! I was just trying to make you feel better! See if I ever do that again!"

He sniffed. "Not if you're going to be insulting a lady. Know your audience, Liar."

Usopp scowled and muttered as he walked out quickly. "At least I didn't _faint_." He heard something crash against the galley door on his exit.

* * *

_It wasn't really noticeable at first. The two crews were usually separated, most of the Kuja pirates were not allowed on the Strawhat's ship and the male members of the Strawhats were not allowed on the Kuja ship. So it took awhile before any information came up at all. Mostly simple statements here and there._

* * *

"So, Marigold-san, why is Luffy on such great terms with the Kuja? You all seem to have a reputation for being the death of men who step foot on your island."

She looked a little thoughtful as she answered the archeologist. "Well, we did try to execute him at first, but he fought well against Sonia and I, and then Sister fell in love with him." She shrugged.

There had to be more to it than that. "I thought I heard her say something about marriage over the Den Den Mushi." She quirked a brow, a slight smile forming.

Mari chuckled fondly. "Yes, she's very set on the idea of marrying Luffy-san." She must have seen some form of doubt in Robin's eyes because she added. "And believe me, she _always_ gets her way."

Robin giggled a bit. "I can imagine, but so does _our_ captain."

* * *

Luffy had taken to sitting as far ahead as he could, which happened to be the Yuda's head, and staring intently at the horizon when he wasn't eating or playing. Hancock would respect his need for contemplation (if that was what he was doing) and silently watch over him from below, chasing away anyone who got too close. In fact, she followed him around just about everywhere, at varying distances. Most of the Strawhats, especially the women, received murderous looks when caught interacting with him easily. The only ones who seemed unfazed by it were Robin and Zoro, who were respectively amused and indifferent.

The current victims were Usopp and Chopper, as they were fishing off the side of the Sunny with their captain.

"Luffy? Can't you talk to Hancock? It's a little scary, she keeps glaring at us all."

"Yeah, it's scary." Chopper shivered.

"I mean, I can understand the girls, but why does she hate us guys so much?" Usopp asked.

"They just don't like guys in general." Luffy stated simply.

"Well, yeah, I guess. Which reminds me! Why does she like _you_ so much? This is the Pirate Empress we're talking about, the most beautiful woman in the world, how did she fall in love with _you_?" He asked, a bit rudely.

Luffy shrugged, frowning at him. "I dunno! She just did." He sounded like he was explaining a natural phenomenon to an exceptionally stupid child, Usopp had a renewed impulse to strangle him. Suddenly, as if sensing she had been mentioned (which she probably had), a threatening aura descended upon them.

"Luffy, you are the captain of this crew, you shouldn't be made to catch produce like a peasant." She stated icily, her penetrating eyes fixed on Usopp's back and making him shiver.

Luffy leaned back precariously, looking at Hancock upside down. "Why not? It's fun! I love fishing with my crew!" He smiled brightly.

She seemed torn by several emotions. Delighted that he was focusing his attention on her, but incredibly jealous by his words. "Well, as long as you're happy." She finally said, quietly, when she couldn't maintain eye contact anymore.

Chopper seemed to pluck up some courage at her momentary timidity, plus he was glued to Luffy's side, and decided to ask. "Why do you like Luffy so much? The others say- you… uh…" He trailed off as Hancock stared at him coldly and shrunk further at Luffy's side.

"… For your information, I do not 'like' Luffy, I love him!" She declared haughtily, as if it should be obvious. "In fact, as his crew, you should know that I intend to marry him!" Her face acquired a dreamy quality to it.

There was a crash behind her and the boys were only vaguely aware of Sanji's horror-struck face as they stared at the Empress with their own shocked expressions.

"I told you already, I'm not going to marry you! I'm going to be King of the Pirates!"

Rather than be disappointed by the rejection, like they thought she would be, or angered, she swooned and stated how much she loved it when he was firm in his resolve.

"So how did you fall in love with him? Not that he's not lovable!" Usopp amended quickly at Hancock's indignant expression. "But he's kinda… Luffy." He finished with a wide wave at the captain that was currently picking his nose.

She frowned. "I don't understand what you seem to be implying, but I can assure you that Luffy is the height of quality your gender seems able to produce. There is no one greater and he is the only one deserving of my love. The rest of you are _trash_." She finished acidly, making them all flinch. Then she fell back heavily onto Salome, who had twisted itself into a chair-shape.

They just stared.

* * *

"Did you hear that Hancock intends to marry Luffy?!" Nami asked without preamble when she walked into the library and spotted Robin.

She glanced up with a small smile. "Yes, actually, Marigold confirmed it for me. She doesn't seem to doubt it will happen." She chuckled at Nami's gaping expression of disbelief.

"But- It's Luffy! _Luffy!_ Why would she want _him_?! She's the most beautiful woman in the world…" She shook herself as her tone had taken a dreamy lilt.

"Careful, you're starting to sound like Sanji." She laughed outright at Nami's offended expression. "As for why she's so taken with him, I can't say for sure. No one will tell me. I suspect something significant happened between the two that stuck Hancock deeply, but no one besides her and her sisters seems to know what it is. And they're not telling."

"Really? Well, that would make sense…" Nami looked thoughtful. "She doesn't even mind that Luffy keeps rejecting her, though. Either she's extremely confident in herself or in denial, but I just can't see it." She shook her head again. "Whatever, as long as the crew stays together they have my blessing."

"It _is_ amusing to watch. She better stay away from Chopper though." Robin finished with a dark murmur.

* * *

It only took a day to reach the Calm Belt they were currently sailing in. Nami found it extremely eerie to be in a sea that was glassy calm but had numerous shadows prowling beneath the surface, not to mention the lack of wind. She felt strangely disabled, like she was lacking a sense she hadn't noticed she had. Robin marveled at her when this was mentioned and gave her a sympathetic smile; it almost sounded like the feeling of vulnerability when she was unable to use her Devil Fruit abilities.

Occasionally they would encounter a sea monster hardy enough to challenge the Yuda, but Luffy would always knock it out with his Conqueror Haki before anything could happen. He seemed to become increasingly restless as the days passed, which was saying something.

Not that he was _acting_ any differently, per say; he was as playful and energetic as always but his hyperactivity seemed to take on a whole new level as he jumped from task to task, sometimes while in the middle of one. Sanji called an emergency meeting on it after Luffy jumped up for the third time from his task of peeling potatoes only to return within minutes, clearly having reconsidered whatever he had intended to do.

"There's not much we can do, bro. He's obviously just anxious to get there. It's just pent-up energy." Franky looked over at Usopp and Chopper with a frown. "I thought you two were keeping him busy."

"We're trying to! But he keeps running off in the middle of things or finishing them too quickly! We can't keep up!" Usopp cried indignantly.

"Where's he now?" Brook asked, looking to Robin.

She briefly closed her eyes. "He's… Sitting on the Yuda."

Brook nodded. "He's been doing that a lot more, lately." _Almost as if willing them to go faster…_

Sanji looked at Chopper, expression half-joking. "Couldn't you drug him?" He was treated to a heated scolding on the use of unnecessary medication that left his ears ringing.

"Not that I wasn't worried before, but… what if… we don't make it?" Nami asked tentatively. She spoke over several protests. "Of course we're doing everything we can, but there are so many factors beyond our control. The marines could have some way of travelling faster than normal, like our Coup de Burst allows us. We only have vague, infrequent, accounts of their location, thanks to Hancock and her ties to the marines so we can't know exactly where they are unless they're docked. The only good thing here is that the weather will be much easier to deal with."

"Nami-swan, we can't think like that. As you've said, we're doing everything we can, if we start thinking about the things we can't we'd just be torturing ourselves." Sanji gave her a small, sympathetic smile, wiping his hands on a dishtowel.

"We could start planning battle strategies, at this point we're just being lazy bones and sitting around! Yohohoho!" Brook pointed out.

The door suddenly slammed open and Hancock stood there, lowering her leg she had used to kick the door, and glowered around the room. Her eyes stopped on Zoro. "Luffy wants to talk to you." She stated stiffly.

Zoro lifted a brow but started to get up. "Where is he?"

"You know where he is, you've all been keeping watch on him." She snapped impatiently, clearly in a mood.

Zoro stopped then. "You're letting me on your ship?" Sanji was seething with jealousy in the background.

Hancock just glared at him, but managed an icy reply. "Luffy. Wants. To talk."

Zoro shrugged and started to follow her as she turned to leave the room.

"Hold on!"

Everyone turned to Usopp, and he quailed a bit under the attention, but took heart from being in company so he asked the Empress. "Uh… I just- Luffy was on your island those two years after the war, right?" She didn't say anything, not that it really needed confirmation. "W-well, how did he- You know, after…" He trailed off helplessly and turned to Nami with a pleading expression. She caught on quick.

"How did he cope?"

Hancock looked at them with an startled expression and then, to their utter fright, looked down with a tearful glance. "I don't know." She said quietly. "He was still unconscious when we got back to the island and remained so for over two weeks. I didn't get to see him until hours after he woke up but by then he seemed to have calmed down from a destructive rage. Jimbei was the only witness to it."

That caused some surprise. "Jimbei?"

"Yes, by the time I arrived Trafalgar had already departed. I had afforded him and his crew sanctuary only until Luffy was out of danger, so-"

"Wait! Trafalgar, you mean Law?!" Nami exclaimed. "He was there too?" All that time they were together and this never came up! Well… Luffy did seem to know him when they met on Punk Hazard, but she assumed that was because of their brief meeting on Sabaody.

Hancock gave them an odd look. "Of course, who do you think operated on him after the war? Really, did you never discuss this with him at all?" She shot them one last reproving gaze before turning on her heel and leading the swordsman outside.

Zoro gave a few members meaningful looks before following her out. Once they reached the figurehead the empress simply leapt up to the railing of her ship without a word, so he followed her example. It quickly became apparent that, despite his captain's request, he was not welcome on the ship. The whole crew seemed to have assembled outside to form a solid path leading to the bow, like they thought he needed to be supervised. _Tsk, not like I have any interest in wandering off and, even if I wanted to, a Warlord is escorting me. Don't they think that's enough?_ He was almost flattered. Still, while they didn't seem to be actively hostile, there were many women glaring at him and, he was somewhat surprised to sense, every single one of them had a good grasp of some form of Haki. _No wonder Luffy got so strong, if he was on an island with such people for two years, not to mention Rayleigh._

They eventually made it to the heads of the Yuda where Luffy was sitting, legs crossed, and staring at the horizon. The Warlord didn't bother alerting Luffy to their presence, just turned on her heel when they got close enough and started screeching at her crew to GET BACK TO WORK and GIVE DEAR LUFFY PRIVACY. This also gave Zoro pause as he reconsidered his opinion over the seemingly-superficial woman, but just grunted and stepped up to sit on the railing closest to Luffy's snake. Still partially facing the way he came, to be sure no one approaches, but twists a bit so he can see his captain.

Luffy turned to peek at him with a grin. "Do you wanna sit up here?"

The swordsman eyes the snake dubiously and shakes his head. "I'm fine here."

His captain's question takes on a teasing tone. "Scared?"

He snorts. "I'm not the Perverted Cook, I just don't think we'd both fit." He wasn't scared, but he wasn't going to go afoul of a pair of snakes that sent Calm Belt seakings running.

Luffy simply shrugged, turned back, and fell silent. After a few minutes Zoro looks up at him and, when no explanation seems to be forthcoming, he turns completely in his seat so his feet are dangling over the water and he's facing the same direction.

With his face openly facing the sea he becomes much more aware of the fine spray of seawater rising over them in a cool drizzle. The wind and sunshine dry it away before it can really set into any dampness, however, leaving a pleasant sensation behind. And, for a moment, Zoro understands why Luffy has always been insistent on taking this position while set on a destination. The effect is a bit diminished from where he's seated, with the snake's neck/body in the way, but he can imagine that if that weren't the case it would just be him, the sun, wind, and ocean as far as he could see. The sensation represents the freedom of being a pirate that Luffy so passionately strives for, and imparts a feeling of control on the onlooker.

This thought only serves to confirm his suspicions over Luffy's hyperactivity and, while poetic, doesn't do much to help in his apparent task to set the captain at ease. So he tries a different approach.

"Does Hancock know we're going to save a woman?"

"It wouldn't matter either way, man or woman, she doesn't really get along with anyone."

"Except you."

Luffy makes a pained noise, full of disappointment. "Not you too! I keep hearing that from everybody!"

Zoro snorts but makes a mental note to tell them all to lay off. Yes, it was shocking at first but the novelty's ended.

"Hancock and Nami found out where the warship will be sailing. Apparently they need to let other ships know where they'll be going into the Calm Belt, in case they get attacked."

Zoro nods, he had heard something similar from the navigator. "And cargo goes missing." He finishes.

They sit in silence for a while more. Zoro doesn't rush it. He's always preferred an economy of words with prolonged bouts of silence rather than talking and talking and hoping the meaning is understood.

Luffy lets out a long breath. "I know I'm worrying them. Maybe this whole trip is useless and reckless; I bet Shanks already knows about it, but…"

"He's an Emperor." Zoro's statement makes Luffy turn to him, curious over the obvious. "He's bound to have plenty of enemies besides the Marines; plenty of rival pirates willing to risk a skirmish just to hurt him." Luffy's eyes narrow. "But the Marines will have anticipated that too, guarding her with top ranking officers that will be battle-ready and occupied with those enemies." He turns to his captain and looks him in the eye. "They will be _expecting_ Shanks to make an appearance maybe in person, maybe that's what they actually aim for in all this, but what they won't be expecting is a small pirate crew with no discernible ties to show up and sneak her out from under their noses. And really, that's probably our best bet at this point."

The Strawhat captain took this in with a nod, but then pouted. "So, what, there won't be any fighting?"

The swordsman looked affronted. "Of course there will be fighting! But a clean escape here, less fighting though there may be, will guarantee more future fights."

"What do you mean?" Luffy seemed confused.

"Well… consider this, we just got done dethrone-ing one of the Emperors, right? What will they think when we seem to attack another? What will they do when they fail to get her back?"

Slowly, a grin spread across Luffy's face and he laughed, long and loud.

* * *

It only occurred to the swordsman later that he had assumed their success.

* * *

_**I know that Luffy used to get her name wrong and a lot of fics use that for comedic effect, but I think he had switched to her actual name after she got him into Impel Down. I thought it was sweet, like something to repay the debt. It was really hard to write their interactions though… I definitely didn't want to suggest he had romantic feelings for her, however I didn't want him to seem like he hated or disrespected her while also showing his distaste for romance but tolerance as long as she didn't overdo it. Because he is aware of her feelings, just not interested. I feel like this whole chapter ended up being focused on them, though.**_

_**I actually did not plan that subtle jab at Zoro's inexistent sense of direction, but it made me giggle when I did.**_

_**I'm not exactly sure what the function of this chapter was anymore, but if I make any significant changes I'll add a note at the beginning of the next chapter. I noticed on revision that I've opened a lot of **_**_scenarios that I didn't exactly intend to... I may use them for epilogue or one-shot fodder, so let me know if something in particular caught your eye! I estimate probably two more chapters, not including extras. Thanks for reading!_**


	7. Chapter 7

**_Whew, sorry for such a long wait again. And sorry if this isn't as 'guns blazing' as some may want._**

**_Thanks for the reviews and for getting this fic past 100 follows! Wow!_**

* * *

The ship shuddered violently once again with the force of cannon fire and sent Makino stumbling against the wall of her cabin. She briefly debated whether she should pick up her son from his makeshift crib or not, ending up limping over and kneeling beside it to keep an eye on him. This was more for emotional support, though; the furnishings and larger objects in the room were already bolted down or otherwise secured. In fact, the only thing that had fallen since _today's_ attack was the coat she had hung on a hook behind the door.

They had been on the warship for nine days and this was the fourth attack they had suffered through, further adding to her sleeplessness. Apparently, the first time, they had had warning of an attack and Captain Tashigi came to inform her of it. She sat with Makino through half of it until one of her subordinates came to relieve her, saying Vice-Admiral Smoker wanted her up on deck. She left quickly and the soldier explained, surprisingly politely, that he'd have to lock her door but he'd be right outside to guard it, then left. It was at this moment that she realized the reasoning behind putting her in a cabin with no easy access to the outside, thus lowering the chances of direct bombardment.

It would occasionally sound like there were skirmishes very close and she could hear the ring of swords clashing but no one had ever made it to her door, or tried to get in anyway. They never told her the details of their adversaries however; whether they were pirates looking to attack or rescue her, or just routine Marine-pirate battles, she couldn't tell. She had discovered that the news of the government's leverage over one of the Emperors had found its way to the press when she was allowed some reading material to pass the time. Not that she was surprised, she just hoped the Captain wouldn't do anything stupid.

As another blast resounded the room was filled with wails that she busied to allay. Even if this had happened so many times, or perhaps because of it, she could not shake the tension it brought by being on this ship. She knew it was in the soldiers' best interest to keep her safe, but… She just didn't trust them. How could she? Well, at least they were better than Vice-Admiral Clarkson and his men. They probably would have put them in a cell.

Sudden gunshots snatched her from her thoughts and the focused intently on the door and the sounds beyond it. Shouts. More gunfire. Then something heavy hitting the floor. Her heart sank when a key was noisily used on the lock and she turned to the door, crouching defensively in front of the small bed.

However, a familiar face of a soldier opened it to reassure her. "Sorry to scare you, Makino-chan, we'll be done in no time!"

"Ah, okay, be careful." She smiled shakily.

Before he could answer he turned sharply to the left and his eyes widened. Cursing violently, he slammed the door shut again.

A heavy collision and abrupt cry were heard then nothing, save the distant cannons.

Her heart was thundering and she wished it wouldn't because she was really trying to listen. Even so, she had a second's warning and then the door jerked open to reveal a burly man in tattered sailor attire, equipped with a heavy mace. She tried to ignore the dark stains on it and focused on his expression. If he was friend or foe, she would soon find out.

Whatever he had expected to find in this room, she apparently hadn't been it. Nevertheless, he quickly shook himself and gave her a threatening grin.

_Definitely not friend._

She had just opened her mouth to scream when a cloud of smoke rushed through the corridor, hurling the intruder down the hall and ripping the open door off its hinges.

Vice-Admiral Smoker re-formed just outside the doorway but kept his gaze on the pirate. "Everything okay?"

Nodding sharply, as she didn't trust herself to speak, she turned to attempt to calm down her son.

Smoker stood outside and yelled for a medic and more soldiers to come guard. Then he turned to the doorway and made motion to close it, only to realize that the door was no longer there. He looked genuinely surprised before glancing back down the hall to where it must be laying. "Oh, oops."

That finally made Makino laugh, but she quickly suppressed it in favor of a smile when he glared at her. "I apologize. Is everything alright?" She felt silly for asking such a question, but she was truly desperate for any information at this point.

"Nothing we can't handle, just the usual pirate trouncing."

"I see." Makino sighed tiredly at the obvious conversation-ender.

VA Smoker turned to the gathered men and directed them each to task, eventually leaving three to compensate for the cabin's missing door.

It wasn't long before the noise started dying down and it was, once again, fairly quiet. Captain Tashigi came down to check on her soon after, sporting a thick bandage around her right forearm, which she quickly dismissed when Makino made a fuss. "I do apologize for the scare, Miss Makino, we'll have a new door fitted right away. Pirates are always so destructive." She finished bitterly.

Makino repressed a smile with some difficulty and replied. "It's alright, no harm done."

"Perhaps for _now_." Came a chillingly familiar voice. Makino hadn't been aware he and his ships were still traveling with them; she never saw any of his soldiers.

Tashigi turned sharply towards it, startled, and saluted. "Vice-Admiral Clarkson! What can I do for you, sir?"

"Ease. I'm moving the prisoners to my hold; they'll be safer there. The pirates seem to put up a heavier fight here with your G-5 men." Even though Makino couldn't see him, disdain was thick in his voice.

The captain just smiled pleasantly back. "They do afford a greater challenge."

"Pirates don't do challenges, they go for an easy kill." Clarkson shot back, clearly missing the biggest flaw of that argument. "Anyway, It's been cleared with Smoker so move along and transfer them."

Tashigi clearly wasn't happy with the order, even if it had been approved by Smoker, and tried. "She's still injured."

"It's not far and the doctor's already cleared her for short travel. I'll even send down a medic to check the stitches once they get settled in." He sounded quite pleased with himself.

Tashigi just stared at him incredulously, her fist tightening at her side. "How generous of you." She stated coldly.

He grunted and his slow footsteps started to retreat. "Be quick, before another attack occurs." He called back.

Tashigi glared after him but then sighed and turned to Makino. "I'm sorry about this. Wait a moment; I need to talk to Vice-Admiral Smoker."

She nodded her understanding and the younger woman left. Not for the first time, she considered the position she had landed herself in. They had always acknowledged that this might happen, but it's one thing to anticipate a possible outcome and another to actually experience it being fulfilled. Perhaps it was a sign of their naïveté that they had put the possibility so far down the list that it failed to demand a planned solution.

But would there have even been one? What more could they have done? She had run through her actions over and over again since this started, all the things she could have done but didn't, and she had yet to find a better path she could have taken. The conclusion had been both a relief and proof of the wall she seemed to have backed herself against. There was only one decision she had made that would have changed all this and, looking down at the basket, she couldn't bring herself to consider it a bad one.

Even after he had been born and the reality sunk in, neither of them were willing consider sending him away, they knew at least one of them needed to be there for him. She had never brought up the subject with Garp, for all she knew he might have believed the Stork delivered the baby, but he probably understood their reasoning by the example he had set. 'Safety' was not always what was best for a child, sometimes it was best to sacrifice that a little for their emotional well being. She had watched for years as Luffy struggled with loneliness and hoped for his grandfather's return, if only to have someone who would give him their full had tried her best to tend to him, but it had been the Captain and his crew who showed Luffy what it was like to be a family.

And now here she was, on a Marine ship headed who knows where with the worst outcome looming far too close for her comfort.

A curious sound drew nearer from down the hall and soon Tashigi walked into the room pushing a wheeled chair; she gave Makino a sad smile of resignation. "Ready?"

* * *

It actually wasn't so bad. Or, at least, not as bad as she thought it would be.

Clarkson's cells were obviously held to the same sanitary standard as the rest of the ship so the transition hadn't been as she thought it would be. Tashigi had uttered a small, relieved sigh. It was a little drafty but she had compensated by bringing along extra blankets to help insulate the child. Now their belongings were sitting in a small crate in the corner by her cot, which she was currently using as a changing station.

Tashigi cleared her throat awkwardly. Since the transfer she had insisted on being the one to guard the cell, although they hadn't been attacked since the day before. "How is he doing?"

Makino had been extremely vigilant over her son's health since they had left the island over a week ago. She hadn't known how he would take to life at sea, having been brought up on land his short life, but he seemed to have taken after his father and was actually sleeping better than he had on Dawn Island. "Very well, he's been eating all the food you bought. Thank you."

Tashigi blushed. "Oh, it was nothing." The first island they had docked at out of necessity, the young Captain had sprinted off and returned with three crates of infant care products, which she then presented to Makino for inspection. She had been shocked to learn that, considering the length of the journey, they would probably end up needing more than five times what she had bought but praised the correct purchases. "And you?"

_About as well as can be expected_, she almost replied. "I'm alright." Though she wouldn't presume to think Tashigi was fooled, she said nothing more.

A confortable silence stretched between them as Tashigi returned to studying a tome on blade upkeep and Makino finished cleaning up then started playing with the child.

"We met the Strawhats again, not too long ago."

Makino whipped around to stare at the young woman; her head was still bent over the pages of her book without really seeing it.

"They got away again, of course, but…" She glanced at Makino quickly and her calm tone made Makino wonder if this encounter had been as antagonistic as the others had seemed to be. "They had discovered a plot by Doflamingo, the ex-Warlord, that was using children for experiments, left alone they would have been murdered." Tashigi's tone was filled with disgust.

The mother slowly paled and clutched her son to her chest, almost too horrified to hear the rest.

"They fought hard, destroying the lab and the ones responsible and probably intended to take the children away with them before we stepped in. Their doctor and another former Warlord healed the children to lessen the side-effects of their abuse, but it was their navigator that had decided to take the children under their protection when it was pleaded for. I can't blame them. The marines-" Her voice had lowered to a bare whisper and it finally hitched a bit. "The marines had failed them." A darker meaning was hinted at and Tashigi bared her teeth at the memory. "But, even so, it would be difficult for the children if they stayed with pirates so I asked her to turn over their care to me until I found their families again. I was surprised when she agreed, she seemed to see the sense in it."

"Did you manage to find their families?"

"Yes. We reunited the last of them not too long before receiving this assignment. Everyone's home now." She sighed, a smile on her lips.

"Why are you telling me this?"

"…They did something similar in Alabasta, too. They fought and won where the marines could not. I used to… I used to believe pirates were all scum who turned to the sea with the sole purpose of causing civilian bloodshed; I still do for the most part, but now… I realize that pirates are people too, and they can assume that title for many different reasons." She turned to Makino and glanced at her child. "You seem like a good judge of character." She stated simply.

Makino didn't know what to say to that, she was still confused as to what the marine meant although she was sure there was an underlying message there. She was about to ask when shouts and heavy stomping were heard overhead, clearly agitated.

Tashigi put her book away and looked down the hall to the door. "They may have spotted something. Someone should be down to report soon."

Sure enough, a soldier in standard issue uniform ran inside and up to the Captain, saluted, and proceeded to report an enemy ship had been sighted off in the distance. They would be within range in less than half an hour but a rising fog was worrying the men. Tashigi thanked him and sent him back. The commotion above only escalated until cannon fire started to be heard from one of the adjacent ships. The marine woman stayed next to the cell door, tense, until their own vessel vibrated from a too-near attack. And finally, unmistakable battle sounds started to be heard above and Tashigi turned to Makino with a pained expression.

"Go ahead." Makino kept her voice steady.

She nodded reluctantly. "I'll lock the door on my way out; they're very sturdy." Then she sprinted for it and was gone.

Makino let out a shaky breath and sank down to the cot, one hand on her son's chest. He wasn't fussing, just staring around curiously, perhaps he had gotten used to the commotion. She felt sad at that thought. Looking up outside her cell, she gave a start and squeaked in shock.

Just outside her cell, on the narrow walkway, stood a woman. The brunette, looking a little younger than herself, smiled politely when she noticed the attention. "Would you be Makino-san?"

Makino cringed a bit closer to her son. Although she had a strange impression at familiarity for this woman, she was not in marine attire and it put her immediately on guard.

The woman's smile turned apologetic. "I'm sorry if I frightened you, but I'm the only one able to get in here quickly at the moment. My name is Nico Robin and I've come to help you escape."

The name finally made it click. "You're one of Luffy's friends!"

Robin chuckled good-naturedly. "Yes, I am a member of the Strawhats. Now, let's get you out of here." A series of hands sprouted from the floor and passed along a ring of keys that she caught when tossed to her. "Unfortunately, I can't move from this spot at the moment." She unlocked the cell door when she got to the right one. "So you'll have to carry everything yourself for a short while."

Makino looked down and was shocked that the woman's feet seemed to be _attached_ to the floor. "How-?!"

"It's part of my Devil Fruit ability." She explained shortly. "Now, please-" She stopped abruptly as Makino lifted her son into a sling and wrapped it around herself. She had stumbled a bit, favoring her uninjured leg, but turned at the interruption and saw the woman staring at it. "You're injured." It wasn't a question. Robin pursed her lips at the truthful conclusion but merely closed her eyes and crossed her arms in front of her chest. "I see." She stayed that way for a minute, expression turning from perplexed to calm, then opened them. "Change of plan, wait one moment and we'll come get you."

"What-?" But the woman had dissolved into flower petals, shocking her once again, and the room was silent. She could still hear the sound of fighting and she hoped it wasn't Luffy's friends who were up there. But she could only wait.

* * *

Soon she started to hear voices from beyond the locked door and worried they would intercept Luffy's rescue attempt, until they became clearer.

"Dammit, Marimo, stop trying to lead us! Robin-chwan knows exactly where to go!" A scathing male yelled, overly loud.

"It's here. Sanji, please lower your voice, we're trying to go unnoticed." Was Robin, she recognized.

"Shut it, Cook. Just open the door." A deeper, irritated voice.

The lock clicked and three people stepped in. One, a blond young man, skipped over and beamed at her in delight. "Makino-chan! You're even more beautiful than I imagined! Don't worry, your prince has arrived to save you!" He threw up his arms passionately. "Those marines will rue the day they dared-"

"Sanji! Be quiet!" Robin finally hissed in annoyance and, by the surprised looks, uncharacteristically.

"Yeah, Nosebleed, show a little decency." Said the green-haired young man with a disapproving tone.

"I'm surprised you know that word, you brute!" He turned to Robin apologetically. "I'm so sorry, Ro-"

"Enough, we need to hurry and get her out of here. Do you think you can manage it?"

Sanji seemed much too willing. "Of course!"

"I have a nice bet with Nami that you'll lose half your blood, so don't disappoint me."

"Shut up!" He screeched while stepping inside the cell and closer to Makino, before sinking to one knee and holding out a hand. "My Queen, forgive me for arriving so late but would you allow me to take you away from this horrible place to somewhere better, yet still undeserving of your magnificence?"

The scarred youth behind him made a chocked gagging sound and even Robin grimaced.

Makino was used to visiting customers lying it on thick for her, although this might be the most over the top one she had heard, and she just laughed; although she subsided when she noticed his hurt expression. "I'm sorry. I'll gladly accept your offer. I can't wait to see Luffy again."

Sanji seemed a bit put out by her reason but managed to smile and helped her to her feet. "He's been excited to see you too." He replied, scooping her up bridal-style but allowing a bit of room between them to not cramp the infant.

"That's an understatement."

Before she could ask them to elaborate, Sanji's head shot up and he yelled. "Zoro!"

The green-haired man stepped towards the door sharply and unsheathed a katana Makino had not noticed. "I know, Love-Cook!" He slashed sharply at the air just as a marine soldier rounded the corner into the doorway. The impact of the invisible force slammed him against the opposite wall and tore his shirt, but seemed to leave nothing but an ugly bruise. "Let's go!"

They all sprinted for the door and Sanji called out. "Don't lead, Marimo!"

* * *

Robin seemed to know exactly where she was going and they were soon easing open a door to the open deck. From what Makino could see, or not, it was shrouded in mist, but the battle was clearly still raging.

"Open the door and run left when I say." Robin stated, eyes closed and arms crossed again. Hurried footsteps stomped past their door. Her eyes shot open. "Now!"

Zoro wretched the door open first and, to their dismay, promptly turned right. With the resulting delay, they barely made it halfway down the boardwalk to their next cover when a shout was heard behind them. The swordsman, put last again, swung around to meet whatever adversary only to lock eyes with Captain Tashigi.

Her eyes widened in shock but, contrary to their expectations, she yelled reassurances over her shoulder and the extra footsteps retreated. She glanced around at the mist with a curious expression before staring hard at Zoro for a second. Some sort of understanding went between them and he nodded before urging his group forward. Makino had one last look at Tashigi's sad smile before they turned the corner.

* * *

They managed to reach the back of the ship without further incident and Sanji let her down a minute while Robin looked down at a tiny vessel with a ram figurehead that was floating on the waves, steered by the Strawhat's skeletal musician.

"Hold her steady Brook! If the ladies land in water I'll break your skull!"

"Yohohoho! That would be quite a problem, seeing as how I'm-"

"Yeah, yeah, I know! Robin-chwan, if you would?" Sanji endeared, and the woman pulled out a rope ladder with securing hooks from the small backpack she carried.

Thunderous footfalls rushed in their direction and all three individuals were immediately forming a protective circle around the older woman, stunning her. They tensed as the soldiers drew ever nearer but, just when it seemed they were going to be in sight of them, the fog suddenly thickened around them. Not dramatically, not noticeably, but just enough to allow them to go unnoticed by the distracted marines; if they had actually looked in that direction their silhouettes would have been evident. The soldiers just circled the corner and continued, back where the four had come.

"What happened?" Robin asked, confused.

"Isn't it obvious? Nami-swan's brilliance saves us again!" He praised at a lower level than usual.

Zoro frowned at the dissipating extra-fog. "I'm not so sure…" Curiously, he reached out his hand to touch it, his eyes focusing intensely. However he quickly wretched it back, as if burned, and unsheathed his blades. "Get her out of here!" He hissed and stepped forward, intent on joining the fight.

"Oi, Marimo, we don't have time! As soon as everyone's back we have to get out of here. They're gonna know we're here as soon as Luffy's antics get around."

"Luffy's fighting?!" Makino exclaimed in worry.

The three gave her disbelieving looks, like she should know it was obvious.

"Yeah, he's fighting, like I should be." Before he could even take a step, though, they heard a familiar voice calling, _whining_, over the din of battle:

"ZOOOROOO~"

The swordsman smirked and shot off. "That's my cue!"

"Dammit, Marimo, I hope he Rockets you straight into the mast!"

Brook could be heard with a faint, "What else is new?" and a laugh.

Sanji sighed and turned to the two women with a pained expression. "I'd better make sure they don't wreck the plan." He leaned over the railing to address the skeleton. "BROOK, YOU PERVERTED SKELETON, IT'S ON YOU!" And he ran after the swordsman before he changed his mind.

Robin chuckled faintly at his antics the motioned to the ladder. "You should go first, I'll keep an eye on you in case you slip." She quickly glanced at Makino's skirt and addressed Brook herself with a hard edge. "Brook-"

He seemed to have anticipated her, though. "I swear I am the epitome of innocence in this case, Robin-san." And he did seem strangely sincere, so she let it go.

Robin helped Makino over the railing and verbally guided and encouraged her down the first few rungs, but it was slow nevertheless.

But, finally, Brook was bracing her around the waist with a soft: 'Excuse me.' And she was safely seated in one of the back seats, Robin was in the front, and Brook was steering the strange boat around guided in the fog by a small, animated piece of paper. At this point, Makino was too tired to question a lot of things and figured she'd have time to later.

The adrenaline was finally beginning to ebb, along with her son's extraordinary patience thus far, when the shadow of a ship started to loom out of the fog with colorful clarity. Makino stared at it in awe and wondered for the first time if she was actually inside a dream, which terrified her into a more alert state. Several shouted greetings from above could be heard but Makino's head was still too hazy to really register it.

A round gate rose along the side of the hull to reveal a small dock perfectly sized for their boat and they floated in. Brook helped her out of the vessel and to the ladder that would lead up to the deck, which she climbed with some difficulty. A pair of hands waited for her at the open hatchet to gently pull her to her feet, belonging to another young woman with long orange hair.

She smiled warmly. "Welcome aboard, Makino-san!"

"Thank you." She replied with an automatic smile.

As the woman called for someone named 'Chopper', Makino turned towards where the marine battleships would be. The sounds around her grew fainter. She prayed Luffy and his friends would return safely. That Captain Tashigi and Vice-Admiral Smoker wouldn't get into _too_ much trouble for this. She felt light pressure on her upper arm, perhaps someone trying to get her attention, but she couldn't seem to look away. Then, she couldn't seem to keep her eyes open.

She felt weightless.

* * *

**_I hope these last few paragraphs had the desired 'dreamy' quality I was trying for. Makino's exhausted. I'm exhausted. Hopefully it came across. I'll look over this tomorrow when I'm awake but hopefully nothing too bad slipped through my initial filter. _**

**_I'm not sure if everyone caught it, but Tashigi thought it was the pirate that broke down Makino's door._**

**_Thanks to the visitor who pointed out the weirdness of Makino's reaction to Brook._**

**_So… probably one more chapter left, then I'll do bonus chapters. So far I have one, kind of a 'deleted scene'. If anyone has ideas, I'm listening. I'll probably mark it as 'complete' after next chapter, but stay tuned, 'k?_**


	8. Chapter 8

_**What was supposed to be the last chapter was shaping up to be excessively long (like, over 10,000 words) so I decided to split it. Yay?**_

_**So, I think people are either going to love or hate this.**_

_**The POV kind of goes all over the place in this chapter. And shameless reference to a filler anime episode for comic, and a little realistic, effect. Also, have mercy on me I don't know how those snails or radio waves work. Or childcare, for that matter.**_

* * *

Luffy flitted across the chaotic deck, bashing heads together and laughing manically. This alone made most of the soldiers draw back from him with alarmed stares. He didn't care. There had been other pirate-looking people on board when he had first started, but they seemed to have retreated when he arrived. He didn't give it much thought as he just dove right back into the fray.

_This is so fun! _When was the last time he had been in a good skirmish? Too long!

He felt a vaguely familiar presence behind him and brought an arm up to catch the musket that was swung at him. He blinked in surprise at the disheveled marine with a bucket on their head. _…a bucket hat. COOL! Maybe Nami would let me-_

"Strawhat, what are you doing here?!" The marine hissed frantically.

On closer inspection, the bucket had had a large 'G-5' painted on it. Luffy scrunched his brow in a colossal effort to remember why that was significant. "AH!" He suddenly exclaimed. "You're with Smokey!" He whipped his head around like a hyperactive owl. "Is he here?!"

"Strawhat! Why are you here?! This is horrible timing!"

Luffy blinked at the statement. "No, this is great timing! We're on a rescue mission!" The soldier only had the time to express his surprise and confusion with a look before Luffy seemed to remember something. "Ah, that was supposed to be a secret. Oh, well." And promptly knocked out the marine. "Sorry."

He got off easy compared to Clarkson's soldiers.

The re-encouraged swarm lunged for the Strawhat captain, intent on making some mark with their numbers, but he simply stood there with a calm expression.

A furious whirlwind of slashes and barrage of flaming kicks sent the horde flying back across the deck. Luffy looked over at the two with a cheeky grin. "Finally, you're here! A little longer and there wouldn't have been anyone left!"

"Tsk! Blame Marimo, he kept getting us lost."

Luffy exploded with laughter while Zoro fell into another fight with the cook.

"Anyway, we can't stay much longer, let's hurry and finish them off." Zoro turned towards the marines with an eerie grin.

"ENOUGH! You've gone far enough, pirates!"

The three turned towards the deep voice, shaking with rage, and saw an unfamiliar marine in an immaculate three-piece suit glowering down at them from the upper deck. He wore one of those 'Justice' coats around his shoulders.

"I am Vice-Admiral Clarkson of Marine HQ! Strawhat, you and your crew have wreaked havoc on the world for too long! You've met your match and I intend to arrest you all!" This raised his men's morale, and they gave a hearty shout of agreement despite the beating they had already been subjected to.

Luffy fixed Clarkson with a scowl and, before either of his crewmates could react, he leapt the distance to land on the railing right in front of the Vice-Admiral who, despite flinching a step back, stood his ground. "You're in charge here?"

"Yes, of course!" He glared at the pirate's nerve.

"Robin said someone hurt Makino, was that you?"

Now, Clarkson was a born and bred marine. His father had been one himself and taught him everything he knew, particularly of the cruelty and cowardice of the pirate scourge, and he had dedicated his life to weakening their numbers. He had dutifully accepted a position at HQ when it was offered and had spent the last few years training new marines as per his father's recommendation, but regretted moving away from the field. Particularly now.

The pirate had fixed him with an almost impassive, wide-eyed, stare, but he felt his skin crawl at the coldness of it, his namesake shadowing his eyes. The silent, waiting, fury. For the first time since he was a child, he felt the urgent need to _run_. To escape whatever that gaze promised. Then, evidently getting his answer, Strawhat let his true feelings spill onto his face in a murderous glare and raised his fist.

Clarkson barely had time to raise his hands in defense when they were both thrown down by a thick cloud of smoke, Luffy ending up back on the lower deck.

The smoke condensed into Vice-Admiral Smoker as he pinned the pirate with his boot. "Strawhat, it's been awhile."

Luffy gave the marine a sunny smile, despite his position. "Hey, Smokey, how're the kids?"

Smoker automatically scowled at the friendly banter, even though he had been the one to initiate it. "Home." He interrupted Luffy's pleased response. "I can't let you continue this rampage, Strawhat. I'm under orders to protect this vessel now that it's carrying a prisoner."

Luffy frowned, _that_ couldn't be right. "But my crew already-"

Before the idiot could say any more, Smoker swung his Jitte around and slammed him against the ribs, sending him flying into his swordsman who had managed to lower his weapons in time to catch him. The blow didn't really hurt, it hadn't been infused with Haki, but the brush with sea stone made it sting a bit. He brandished the Jitte at the three. "So I'll be your opponent now."

Luffy had coughed a little but before he could reply a sudden gale overtook the ships, making everyone kneel closer to the ground.

Sanji had to catch his captain's namesake before it blew away but tucked it away when he noticed the effects of the wind. Primarily, it had blown away nearly all the fog. And it hadn't been natural. He grabbed his two crewmates while the marines were still cringing and Sky Walked over the crowd to land on the outer railing of the hull. "Nami-swan's given us the perfect opportunity to escape. Let's not waste it, shit-heads." He tensed his legs, readying to Sky Walk the distance to the Sunny, when he was abruptly grabbed and smashed against the shit-swordsman by a rubbery appendage.

"Don't worry, I'll get us there! Bye, Smokey!" Luffy called back before shooting them all towards his colorful ship; his crewmates violent curses were whipped away by the wind, and they were shortly pulling themselves from various landing indentations only to be met by Franky's displeasure.

But it was only a moment of calm before the rest were scrambling to tie everything down in preparation for their escape. The marine ships had started after them now that they could actually determine their location. It didn't take long, despite the conspicuous absences on deck. Especially one.

"Where's Makino?"

Usopp replied with an incoherent squeak and the rest gave him concerned glances, but it was Nami who answered. "She's in the infirmary with Robin and Chopper. He says she collapsed from fatigue and he'll come get us when they're settled in." She said it firmly, as though thinking he might run in there any second, but not unkindly.

Luffy did give the infirmary a worried glance, but quickly determined that there was nothing to worry about if Chopper was taking care of her, so he went to pester Sanji for food, who _was_ worrying about it.

* * *

In the infirmary, things weren't going so well.

Makino had been out like a light for the last 15 minutes, barely caught by Usopp as she collapsed on the grass, and Chopper didn't expect her to wake up any time soon. He had a couple tests running just to make sure there weren't any dangerous, underlying condition, but he was sure it was mainly accumulated stress and lack of sleep so they had drawn the curtains around her bed to give her privacy. They'd move her to the women's quarters later. That wasn't really the problem, though.

The baby she had had with her had not stopped wailing since his mother had fainted. The infirmary's walls were muffling it somewhat but, once the noise outside died down when they landed, it would become quickly noticeable. And Chopper had quickly found his medical and life knowledge lacking quite glaringly. Even Robin seemed to be at a loss.

"I'm afraid there haven't been a lot of pirate crews, criminal organizations, or rebels who took child care training as a priority." She stated dryly to the unspoken question.

Chopper slumped and together they did their best, but the impact of landing did not help their efforts to calm the child and soon they had crewmembers coming over to see what all the fuss was about. By this time both the child _and_ Chopper were in tears. "I DON'T KNOW WHAT TO DO!" For some reason, he took this as a personal medical failure on his part.

Robin's eyes suddenly widened on the person who had just poked their head into the room, irritated scowl in place. "Zoro!" She exclaimed rather desperately, eliciting shocked looks. She didn't care, neither did she care about the secret she was about to expose. She strode over to him and offered the baby to him. "You're going to have to take care of him until his mother wakes up." She at least tried to suppress the smile threatening to overcome her.

"What?!" He still had not taken the squalling baby and instead tried to lean away from her, trapped by Franky behind him. He tried to ignore the confused stares running between the two. "Why should I?!" He regretted the question as soon as it left his mouth. _He was done._

And she knew it. A small, victorious smile graced Robin's lips and she said: "As far as I know, you're the only one with childcare experience. Should I go into detail?"

Zoro took the baby with a piercing glare and kicked everyone else, except Chopper, out of the infirmary.

The curtains to the small window were drawn, so they couldn't tell what was going on inside, but within five minutes there was silence.

"You don't think he killed him, do you?" Usopp asked dubiously. Nami responded with a harsh slap.

A few minutes later Chopper emerged with a list of items they would need to come up with to feed, clean, and clothe the baby. Chopper refused to answer any Zoro-related questions, as he had been sworn to secrecy. Robin giggled at that but also complied. Sanji took a look at the notes on food and busies himself to work something out as Chopper turns to Robin.

"Zoro wants to talk to you." He states meekly, and by the tone she can tell those weren't his exact words.

She chuckled and stepped over to the door with the young doctor.

* * *

Zoro holed himself up in the observation deck when he, Chopper, and Robin emerged with the pacified child and refused to give any answers with anything besides a death glare.

Robin told them to let him be and started a small lesson on basic childcare from her newly acquired knowledge. Everyone was roped into at least watching, since they had all been gathered out of curiosity anyway. "I'm not sure how old he is, probably one or one-and-a-half, but I wouldn't be surprised if he's very active and curious."

"I thought you didn't know about babies, Robin." Nami stated questioningly to the older woman.

"It's just something I read in a psychology book somewhere on usual development; it was mostly on adults though, there were only a few passages on infants and children." She explained before turning to them all. "That means that someone needs to keep their eyes on him _at all times_, unless he's in a secure, enclosed, space. We wouldn't want Makino-san to wake up and find out a pirate ship is less safe than a marine ship."

There were a few chuckles at that, except from the captain. Luffy had been staring intently at the child, now in Nami's arms, as he stared right back with equal intensity.

"Hey, Nami, can I hold him?" He opened his arms in invitation as his crew stared at him in surprise.

Nami glanced at Robin briefly but quickly shifted her arms so her captain could take their place. "Uh, yeah, sure." She and Robin reminded him of how to properly keep him secure, which he impatiently waved off and they were soon watching in fascination as the two continued to seemingly have a silent conversation. They started a bit when Luffy suddenly burst out laughing as if hearing a joke.

"I thought his hair would be red or green when I heard from grandpa." He stated curiously, looking at the tufts of soft almost-black hair.

"It's like a really dark brown, maybe 'cuz those colors are opposites?" Usopp theorized.

Luffy and Chopper were voicing their admiration over his wisdom when Nami reprimanded the remark. "That's not how it works, they're not colors on a palette. It's genetics! Makino or Shanks probably just have genes for brown hair from their family that their kid inherited."

"Oh, so it's mystery hair." Luffy stated with certainty.

"It might as well be, yes." Nami replied with a resigned sigh. She didn't know why she bothered anymore.

Sanji obviously thought this was the opportune moment to pay the navigator a compliment, so he did. "Nami-swan is so knowledgeable! Oh, I completely forgot! Thank you for saving our asses back on the marine ship! I don't know how, but that extra fog really saved us!" He gushed exuberantly.

Nami stared at him in confusion. "What extra fog?"

Brook explained. "Just before we escaped on the Lamb-chan we were almost found by a group of soldiers. The fog thickened around us just as we were about to be in their sight and they passed by. That wasn't you?" Nami shook her head at the question, perplexed.

Robin lifted a finger to her chin. "Zoro had said it might not be." She muttered almost to herself, then closed her eyes and activated her powers for a moment. Her brow lifted in surprise at some new piece of information. "It seems…" She opened them again. "Zoro thinks it was Smoker's doing." Her mouth quirked. "He said the dissipating smoke felt faintly solid when he inspected it with Haki, like a logia fruit might."

"What, Smokey did?!" Usopp exclaimed. _Sure, they had parted on fairly good terms but still…_

Luffy looked up at them. "Yeah, he also said all the kids got home." Nami and Chopper looked very happy to hear that. "We should call Torao and tell him too!"

Nami privately thought that the Surgeon of Death probably wouldn't care, but he had helped save them. Still… "I doubt we could get in contact, they're probably too far away."

"But we have that new snail, don't we?!" The baby made an encouraging noise at the excitement of Luffy's question.

"Well, yeah, but… the guy said the marines would know it was stolen. They'll probably be keeping an eye out."

Franky and Usopp looked thoughtful. "I wonder if there's a way we can mess with the signal so it only delivers to the intended line, but sounds like static anywhere else." Usopp thought out loud.

"Hmm, you might be onto something there, bro. Do we have any books on the snails?"

"I believe I have one on radio transmission, yes." Robin answered.

"Great! Let's go have a look at it! Maybe we can rewire the Den Den Mushi." Usopp stated in excitement, and the two rushed out to the library and then to their workshop.

Nami seemed to snap herself back to attention at the activity. "That's right! We still need to meet back up with Hancock in a couple days; and we can't get complacent just because we're back in the Blues, got that?!" She snapped to unanimous agreement and left soon after to ready their course.

Luffy took a seat at the benches at the far wall and let the baby sit facing the rest of the room. He mostly just watched whoever was talking at the time but soon took a particular interest in Brook, making the musician both uncomfortable and flattered. Sanji came over with a bowl of small apple pieces that he handed to Brook, since he seemed to be in the kid's graces for the moment.

"We should find a way of contacting Red Hair right away; a modified Den Den Mushi might be just the thing. The marines won't be able to keep this a secret for too long but they might not broadcast who took Makino-chan and her kid. We should at least let him know they're okay, maybe he had people in the area waiting for a chance to rescue them." Sanji reasoned.

"That seems likely." Brook said as he scooped a few pieces of apple with the small wooden spoon Sanji had provided. "But what do you think will happen to them after? A pirate ship is not an ideal place to raise a child. I'm sure that was one of the reasons Makino-san stayed behind." They were all silently thoughtful at that.

"That's true…" Robin said sadly. "They're now exposed to the government and marines, not to mention enemy pirates. There aren't a lot of places they'll be able to hide, especially if the government decides they're too valuable to let go. They might even put a bounty on them." She finished in a disturbed whisper.

"Do you think they would?" Brook asked, aghast.

She stayed silent, she didn't want to think about it.

* * *

After Chopper confirmed that Makino was otherwise healthy, they moved her to the women's quarters where Nami and Robin insisted she be put on their bed. They then managed to convince Franky to build a secure crib to put in the room for naps. Luffy stayed stubbornly attached to the infant the whole time and regularly stepped into the room to check on Makino or put the crib to use when the baby was sleepy. It was during one of these times that Makino slowly woke up.

The first thing that pierced through the haze was a soft, irregular, popping sound. Sometimes short and fast, other times with longer pauses. Which made it impossible to fall back to sleep. With a soft sigh she opened her eyes and turned towards the sound, somehow already knowing what it was.

Luffy popping spit bubbles in her son's face for the child's amusement.

Despite this, she felt a grin start to stretch across her face. She felt the soft lull of waves beneath her, oddly different than how it felt on the marine ship. It was very quiet, it might be late evening or night; everyone was probably asleep. She wondered how long she had been asleep and how long she had left the baby in this crew's hands. She winced inwardly and hoped someone had a little experience, hoped it hadn't been too hard on them. The child seemed content, though, lazily swatting at the teenager's waggling fingers and fighting to keep his eyes open. A fight he eventually lost.

They watched his chest rise and fall for a few seconds before Luffy turned his knowing eyes on her and grinned. "Hi, Makino!" He chirped.

She put a finger to her lips and spoke softly. "Hello, Luffy. I didn't think I'd be seeing you again so soon."

He made a visible effort to keep his laugh low. "I know! I thought I'd be pirate king the next time I visited Windmill Village!" He frowned a bit. "I was gonna pay back my treasure tab."

Makino laughed lightly and sat up against the headboard. "That's all right, I can wait." She suddenly felt a pang at those words, though. _Would_ she be able to return? Had she spent her last day working in her little bar? She tried to dispel those thoughts from her mind and looked around the room, it was quite spacious with a very pronounced feminine touch. "Does this room belong to those women?"

"Yeah, this is Nami and Robin's bedroom, they're sleeping in the aquarium tonight." He pouted in envy at that, _why hadn't he thought of it before?!_

_An aquarium?_ "I see…" She felt a little bad for taking their bed. "I've had all their wanted posters in the bar since they came out, even Brook's re-issued one, but it's nice to finally meet them in person. They seem like a nice bunch."

"They're great! I'll introduce you!" He looked about ready to jump up and wake everyone right then and there so she quickly stopped him.

"That sounds like a wonderful idea for tomorrow, Luffy. I'm sure everyone is tired, though, let's let them rest."

"Oh, ok."

Makino looks down at the sleeping infant and lets out a slow breath. Now would be best. "Luffy?" He looks at her. "I never had the chance to introduce you to my and Shanks' son." She rested a hand on the edge of the crib but kept her eyes on Luffy. "This is Ace."

There were a few beats of surprised silence where Luffy blinked at her, not the shocked or painful reaction she had feared though. But it looked like it was finally starting to dawn on him.

"What?! You got an Ace too?!" He quickly clapped his hands to his mouth at the outburst and glanced at the child in question then back at her apologetically.

Makino blinked in equal surprise. "What?"

Luffy looks back at the baby thoughtfully then nods to himself, as if a question had been answered for him. "Ace is a great name for a great man." He gently poked the sleeping boy's nose. "Right?"

Makino seems a bit distressed. Confused. "Luffy, listen, I-"

"No, Makino." Luffy stopped her with a serious expression, and then smiled. "It's okay. It's a good name."

Makino was speechless. She tried to think of something to say but the effort just made her eyes sting and throat constrict.

"Shishishi! Makino, are you crying?" He teased. "Sanji will kick me if he finds out I made you cry."

She gave him a shaky little laugh. "…Yeah, it's a perfect name."

They sat in silence for a bit, listening to the light breathing and soft sound of waves breaking against the hull.

"Thank you for saving us, Luffy." She finally expressed in a thick voice. "I'm sorry you had to go through the trouble."

"Don't be stupid." He laughed. "It was fun!"

She chuckled. "Even so, thank you."

"No problem. Sanji thinks Shanks was probably on his way to rescue you too. But we beat him to it! Shishishi!"

_The blond boy_, she remembered. "He may be right, if I know the captain." Her stomach suddenly protests its fast, making Luffy laugh again.

"C'mon, I bet Sanji is still in the kitchen! Let's get a snack!" He jumps up, eyes twinkling in anticipation, and his shirt falls open for the first time, giving Makino an unobstructed view of his chest for the first time.

Years of newspaper articles and pictures but she never noticed. Before she realized she was holding onto his arm, keeping him still, and staring at his chest.

"What happened?" She whispered, horrified by the huge, jagged scar.

He looks down at it and raises his unobstructed arm to touch it. "I got it at Marineford. I don't really remember, I was unconscious when it happened."

She didn't want to know. She wanted to shut her ears and forget. Forget the news articles, the waiting. But she heard herself: "Who…?"

A stormy look overcame his young, _so young_, face. But it wasn't directed at her. "Akainu."

Makino felt sick. Of course she knew. She only read that article once, but its words would forever be burnt into her mind. That man, the _hero_ of the war. Of course she knew.

Luffy saw the recognition and lowered his eyes sadly. "Yeah…" His eyes clouded with memories. Memories of _that day_, of childhood, who knows…? But…

Impulsively, Makino reaches forward and pulls the boy into an embrace. He's still short for his age, she notes, and his chin barely passes her shoulder, resting there now. He freezes a second, surprised, then returns the hug, a bit confused. "Makino-?"

"Thank you." She says, voice low and trembling. "Thank you for coming back, Luffy. I know it was hard. I know you probably had days where you blamed yourself and wished it had been you. But you were so strong. _So strong_. You found the strength you needed to pull yourself back from despair and return to us. So thank you." She pulled away a bit and gave him a watery smile, placing a hand on his cheek. "Thank you for surviving."

* * *

Sanji closed the door to the storeroom and made a final note of the supply reduction after the day's meals. One sweeping look of the kitchen asserted him of its spotlessness so he sat at the table with pen and paper to work out the next day's meals. He had a handful of scraps where he had noted everyone's requests throughout the day; he was just wondering what to arrange for their guests when Luffy threw the door open with a shout for food. The cook had a half-formed retort on his tongue when he caught sight of the _angel_ walking in behind his captain.

"My dear, sweet Makino! It is my pleasure to see you awake and well; please sit, Chopper said you shouldn't move around too much on that leg. What can I do for you? Yeah, I know _you're_ hungry, shit-captain. What would you like to eat, Makino-chan?"

Makino blinked at the rush of words and uneven reaction to her and Luffy, then smiled. _So, Sanji must be their cook._ "Oh, something simple, I'm afraid I haven't taken to sea very well."

He gave her a worried look. "If it's serious, we can have Chopper prescribe you something."

"Maybe tomorrow, if it doesn't settle, I'm just a bit queasy."

"Ah, well then, how about some ginger tea? We just got some very good honey a couple weeks ago, too."

"That sounds lovely, thank you."

He sets the kettle to boil and starts cutting up the ingredients, as well as those for Luffy's late-night snack, when Robin walks in and smiles at the company. "Good evening, it's good to see you up, Makino-san."

"Thank you. Oh, and thank you for rescuing us." She says to both Robin and Sanji.

"Of course."

"You don't need to thank me, Makino-chan, I'm your Mr. Prince, after all!" He gushes.

"Mr. Prince, hurry up with the food!"

"Shut up!"

That reminded Makino of something, and she turned to Luffy with a worried frown. "One of the vice-admirals and captains said they knew you. Miss Tashigi and-?"

"Smokey?!" Luffy finished in his excitement. "Yeah, we saw him just before Sanji made us leave." He pouted at the older male.

"Yes, him. I'm a bit worried about them, they were so nice to us…"

"I wouldn't worry about _them_." Robin said reassuringly. "From what I overheard from the soldiers you and your son were originally under their custody but Vice-Admiral Clarkson forcefully overrode Smoker's authority and transferred you both to his ship." A small, pleased, smile graced her features. "That's going to be difficult to explain to his superiors."

Makino didn't look entirely reassured but she supposed nothing could be done about it; and at least Captain Tashigi seemed to have decided to let them go.

Once again, the door burst open for the long-nosed sharpshooter of the Strawhats. "San-! Oh! Everyone's in here, huh? Sanji, me and Franky want some snacks! We're really close to keeping noise over the transmission so we're just gonna work through the night." Sanji complies to making extra snacks so he sits down on Luffy's other side and leans over to look at Makino. "Did the others tell you what we're working on?" She shakes her head at the unexpected question and he grins madly. "Me and our shipwright, Franky, are adjusting the radio frequencies on our long-range Den Den Mushi to allow a secure transmission! Uh, it means the marines or other pirates won't be able to overhear the calls." He adds at Luffy's blank look. "Some of us thought we should try calling Red Hair Shanks before he declares war on the Navy or something." Usopp seems to realize something and he asks, "_Do_ you have his number?"

They all look at her expectantly. Well, all except Luffy, who's begun to bug Sanji again. She smiles though. "Yes, he did give me a way to contact him in case of emergencies." She confirmed.

"Oh, good." The sharpshooter replied in relief. "This would be pretty useless if not, huh?" He laughed. Makino blinked at the reaction, having a strange feeling of familiarity.

"Oh, I don't know about that, Usopp. We could always find ways of giving it use." Robin responded enigmatically.

"I guess…" He was a little unnerved by her reply.

Makino caught the boy's eye again. "I'm sorry, but are you Sogeking, from the wanted poster?" She asks, certainly not expecting the following reaction.

Sanji flinches and turns to the table sharply, expertly catching the falling ingredients, Robin's eyes widen a fraction, but an amused smile stays in place as she watches the boy's reaction, and Usopp seems to be speechless for once. He quickly realizes he should say _something_ and begins to formulate a denial, glancing swiftly at his captain, when Luffy bursts into laughter.

"Usopp isn't Sogeking, Makino! Sogeking has a cool mask and cape! He's a superhero, after all. He went back to Sniper Island after he helped us rescue Robin. Usopp's friends with him, though, right?" He looks at his sharpshooter with utmost trust.

Usopp laughs a bit shrilly. "Of course! Why, I even taught him a few things about ammo that even _he_ didn't know!" And puffs out his chest proudly to Luffy's cries of admiration.

Makino looks at Robin in confusion, seeking answers to their strange reactions. She had been sure it was him, just looking to confirm. Robin shrugged a shoulder and mouthed _'later'_. Makino nodded and looked back at Usopp. "So, Usopp then?"

"Uh, yeah, nice to meet you!" His smile faltered a bit and he squirmed in his seat self-consciously before looking up at her hesitantly. "Um, can I ask you a question?"

She tilts her head to the side, curiously. "Of course. What do you want to know?"

He takes a steadying breath and continues. "My father used to sail with Red Hair Shanks, Luffy told me. I was wondering- Was he still with him the last time you saw him?" _Luffy had assured him that he had been sailing with Red Hair, but that had been over 12 years ago! He had to know…_

Makino, Robin, and Sanji looked at the sharpshooter in surprise. "Your father?"

Luffy intervened. "Yeah! Yasopp is Usopp's dad, Makino! Isn't that cool?!"

Makino's eyes widened in realization. _So that's what it was!_ "Oh! Yes, of course he was with the captain!" She laughed at Usopp's thrilled expression. "You shouldn't be so surprised. Yasopp is the captain's top marksman, after all, and one of his closest friends. He's doing well." She smiled widely as Usopp bounced in his seat, elated by the news. It faltered a bit as she remembered one bit of news she had gotten from them and wondered whether or not she should share it. _He has the right to know._ "They stopped by your island before Windmill." She stated gently and Usopp looked surprised. "I think he was looking for you, but of course you weren't there. He heard from some villagers that you had taken to sea with a young boy with a straw hat." She raised an eyebrow at said boy, who giggled. "He looked so proud."

Usopp seemed to have forgotten how to speak. Or breathe, for that matter. His face slowly turned red until his best friend laughed at the reaction and he stuttered out a reply. "I- I s-see… Did he- Uh, did he say anything… else?" He kept his eyes fixed on the table, feeling inexplicably guilty.

Her gaze softened at what he was asking. "He visited your mother too. It was quite a shock for him, but… I think he was more worried about how you took it. He was afraid you'd hate him for leaving…"

Usopp started at the notion. "What?! Of course not! I've always been proud of my old man! He went out to chase adventure as a brave warrior of the sea, there's nothing greater!" Luffy cheered in response.

Makino beamed at him. "That's good to hear."

Sanji stepped over with two trays, one laden with food which he handed to his captain and the other with a tea & coffee set and two plates of small sandwiches. He set the tea and coffee in front of the ladies, along with one of the remaining plates, and handed the rest to Usopp. "Thanks! Well, hopefully we'll have this figured out by tomorrow. Isn't this exciting, Luffy?! We'll be able to talk to Red-Hair and my dad!"

"I'm not going to talk to Shanks." Luffy stated with an almost-surprised tone, as if it should have been obvious.

There was a shocked silence.

Usopp floundered a bit. "W-what? Why not?!"

Luffy crossed his arms and looked at him with mild disapproval. He took off his hat and started twirling it in his hands. "I told him the next time we met I'd be a great pirate. Even if it's just over the Den Den Mushi, it still counts as 'meeting.' So I won't do it. I'm not there yet. The next time we speak needs to be as equals, face to face." He finishes with a decisive nod.

Usopp looked pretty surprised through the speech but it morphed into an agreeing excitement. "Yeah! You're right! I want the first time I meet my old man to be memorable, too! I'll be a brave warrior, of equal standing as a sharpshooter too." He turns to Makino with a sheepish expression. "Would you tell him what I said though? That I'm not angry with him and all that…?"

"Of course."

He beamed and swept out of the room, energy renewed. "All right then, night everyone!"

Makino turned to Luffy thoughtfully, then reached out and ruffled his hair, making him laugh.

"What?"

"Nothing." She just smiled proudly.

Robin smiled softly at the two while Sanji seethed a bit.

* * *

_**Gaaah! It's so emotional! Writing the Strawhats always makes it seem like I'm writing less than I actually am. Maybe it's all the banter? I had planned on ending this chapter right after Luffy and Makino's talk but it didn't seem right so I continued with this last piece. I'm not sure how long the next chapter will be, though… But this was already nearly 6,000 words so I figured I'd better split it.**_

_**Sooo… I was really nervous about revealing littleAce's name. Maybe not so much to Luffy, he's so altruistic, but more to the crew I guess. Let's see how that goes.**_

_**I'm not really sure how to go about starting the next chapter and stuff, although I'm pretty sure I know how it'll end it's just the execution of it, so don't expect anything for at least another couple weeks. I'm moving right after Christmas so I'm hoping to finish this before then or it'll be another month after before I'd update.**_


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